Cold adaptation includes a complex range of structural and functional adaptations at the level of all cellular constituents, and these adaptations render cold-adapted organisms particularly useful for biotechnological applications. Psychrophiles: From Biodiversity to Biotechnolgy presents the most recent knowledge of (i) boundary conditions for microbial life in the cold, (ii) microbial diversity in various cold ecosystems, (iii) molecular cold adaptation mechanisms and (iv) the resulting biotechnological perspectives.
Rosa Margesin is full professor at the Institute of Microbiology, University of Innsbruck, Austria. Her field of research are cold-adapted microorganisms, with the focus on alpine habitats, including ecology, biodiversity and taxonomy of psychrophiles, soil microbiology, and environmental microbiology (biodegradation and bioremediation). Rosa Margesin is (Co-)Editor of 10 books published by Springer, and of various Thematic Journal Issues. She (co-)authored more than 100 publications and reviews in international peer-reviewed journals.
Review of the first edition:
"The new book Psychrophiles: From Biodiversity to Biotechnology [...] focusses on psychrophiles and describes, with cutting-edge knowledge, representative groups of cold-adapted micro-organisms as well as the habitats in which they live and the strategies they employ to cope with the cold. [...] This excellent book, which covers almost all fields of 'cold' microbiological research, matches current demands and trends in applied biotechnology. Furthermore, it is a valuable source of information to all those scientists interested in knowing what's going on in the lab's -80°C freezer."
– Ralph Schill, Lab Times, Issue 4, 2008