I study microbial genomes at the molecular level to understand how microbial communities influence the biogeochemistry of our planet

I am a scientific informatics project leader working with Zoe Cardon in the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological laboratory. I received my PhD in 2021 from Northeastern where I published a dissertation titled Nutrient Influence on microbial structure and function within salt marsh sediments. After completing my PhD, I spent two years in Bess Ward’s lab at Princeton University within the Geosciences department where I published a paper about the diversity and niche specialization of diatoms and dinoflagellates within a simulated upwelling mesocosm experiment. Within the Cardon lab, I study methane cycling among diverse methanogen and methanotrophic microbes within a brackish marsh inhabited by Typha angustifolia. There are fascinating interactions between plants and microbes within this dynamic system. I am using omics techniques and hoping to begin cultivation of some important members of the community in order to pinpoint physiological resoponses to plant inputs and understand the interconnected nature of microbes and plants inhabiting the sediment.