Research Interests

Our lab is interested in applying contemporary genomic technologies to understand the ecology, evolution and biogeochemistry of complex microbial assemblages. While biotic processes that occur within natural microbial communities are diverse and complex, much of this complexity is encoded in the nature, identity, structure, and dynamics of interacting genomes in situ. This genomic information can now be rapidly and generically extracted from the genomes of co-occurring microbes in natural habitats, using standard genomic technologies. We are now developing and applying these and related technologies, to better describe and explore the genomics, biochemistry, metabolism and ecology of marine microbial communities. Our central focus is on marine systems, due to the fundamental importance of the ocean environment, and the pressing need to understand the function and trajectory of global ecosystems in the Anthropocene.