Food Security
Food security is critical to addressing UN SDG 2: Zero Hunger
Advisory Groups
With a strong focus on influencing international policy, we are organised around six core UN Sustainable Development Goals and encourage partnership between industry and academia to increase our impact.
We are supported by six Advisory Groups, each based around one of our chosen SDGs. Find out more about each group by clicking the images below:
One Health
We believe in a One Health approach to UN SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
Clean Water
Microbial safety is clearly a key factor in achieving UN SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
Healthy Land
The microbial health of our terrestrial home is one of the key facets of UN SDG 15: Life on Land
Ocean Sustainability
Applied Microbiology offers a variety of elegant solutions to many of the problems addressed in UN SDG 14: Life Below Water
Climate Action
UN SDG 13: Climate Action will require significant contribution by applied microbiology research
Meet our Advisory Group members
Arpita Bose
Arpita Bose's lab studies microbial metabolisms and their influence on biogeochemical cycling using an interdisciplinary approach. She seeks to generate new ways of addressing issues such as the energy crisis, pollution, biofouling, and sustainability.
Carsten Suhr Jacobsen
Microbial ecology of soil and groundwater associated bacteria is the main area of my research. I believe that microbial ecology in soil can only be described properly using combinations of molecular methods, biogeochemical techniques and classical microbiology. I have used significant amount of energy on quantification of nucleic acids directly extracted from soil, and I have worked with different methods to quantify mRNA directly in soil. These techniques are being applied in the projects that I've been able to raise funding for.
Microbial degradation of pesticides, PAH compounds and chlorinated compounds in various soils and groundwater aquifers has been the core of my research, but I've also been working on: 1) the study of microbial communities in ice and permafrost samples from Greenland, 2) the study of survival and transport of pathogens from manure to freshwater, 3) the study of side effects of pesticides on agricultural ecosystems services, 4) effect on ash on soil exosystem services and 5) interactions in the rhziosphere microbiome – in all cases exploring the same basic methodologies, i.e. DNA and mRNA based analyses of the microorganisms directly in environmental samples.
Christine Spencer
I am currently a Tutor in Applied Environmental Geology and researcher in biogeotechnics. For the past six years my research has focussed on biocementation, as a means of improving properties of geomaterials. My areas of expertise include soil mechanics, geomicrobiology and geochemistry.
Janet Jansson
Janet Jansson is Chief Scientist for Biology in the Biological Sciences Division and a Laboratory Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Jansson has more than 30 years of experience in microbial ecology. Jansson earned an M.S.in Soil Microbiology at Colorado State University (1983) and a Ph.D.in Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University (1988). Jansson was a researcher in Sweden for 20 years from 1988 - 2007 and was Professor, Chair of Environmental Microbiology, and Vice Dean at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences prior to moving back to the United States in 2007. Before coming to PNNL in June 2014, Jansson was a senior staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2007-2014). From 2012-2014, Jansson was an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley and at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jansson's specific expertise is in the use of molecular approaches (omics) to study complex microbial communities, such as those residing in soil, sediments, and the human gut. Jansson is studying the impact of climate change on microbial communities in prairie and arctic ecosystems, including a focus on the impact of warming on permafrost soil microbiomes and drought on grassland soils. Her research also focuses on the human microbiome, including the impacts of diet, host genetics and inflammatory bowel disease on gut microbial functions.
Jizhong Zhou
Dr. Jizhong Zhou is a George Lynn Cross Research Professor and a Presidential Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology and Director for the Institute for Environmental Genomics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK; Adjunct Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; and Adjunct Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. His expertise is in molecular biology, microbial genomics, microbial ecology, theoretical ecology and genomic technologies. His laboratory has pioneered the development and use of genomic technologies for environmental studies for which GeoChip won an R&D 100 Award in 2009. He received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2001. He is a former Editor for Applied and Environmental Microbiology and an Editor for mBio. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Komang Ralebitso-Senior
As the current Associate Dean (Diversity and Inclusion) for the Faculty of Science, I oversee the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the University’s EDI Strategy and Action Plan. Therefore, I facilitate and support an embedding of diversity and inclusion principles into teaching, learning, research and enterprise for an equitable experience for staff and students. I have held post-doctoral positions with: BioMEMS Laboratory of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Oxford (now Wallingford). As Senior Lecturer in Microbial Ecology, my research interests in microbiome science and technology are to understand and exploit complex interacting microbial communities. We achieve this by applying molecular techniques for the analysis of ecosystems that are impacted by decomposition, biochar, pollutants and waste products.
Lisa Stein
Lisa Y. Stein is an American biologist who is a professor at the University of Alberta. Her research considers the microbiology of climate change. She was awarded the 2022 University of Alberta Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring.
Marta Simões
Marta Filipa Simões currently works at the State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences (SKLPlanets), Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), as an assistant professor.
She is a microbiologist with a special interest in astrobiology, astromycology, applied microbiology, and mycology, more specifically filamentous fungi and in culture collections and their management. Previously she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow, at her current institution. Before that, she was an Associate tutor and a Junior Research Fellow at Edge Hill University (UK), where she did research on microbial characterisation and identification and was responsible for the in-house culture collection. Before that, she worked as a Postdoc at the Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, where she worked with marine microbiology and was also responsible for the management of the bacterial culture collection.
Ogechukwu Chukwuma
Taniya RoyChowdhury
Dr. Taniya RoyChowdhury is a soil microbiologist who studies soil systems at both the broad ecological scale and the complex microbial scale to assess change and resilience in response to climate change. Microbes play a large role in the carbon cycle, emitting greenhouse gasses and working alongside plants to cycle nutrients. In her recent research, Dr. RoyChowdhury is taking a holistic approach, harnessing the functional potential of the soil microbiome to assess whether adopting sustainable soil management practices leads to improved soil health.
Bukola M. Popoola
Dr. Bukola M. Popoola works at Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria. She received her Ph. D in Environmental Microbiology at the Department of Microbiology in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
She teaches a variety of courses in microbiology field such as water and sewage microbiology, environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, petroleum microbiology, general microbiology, microbial genetics, microbial physiology, bacteriology, microbial techniques, soil microbiology, etc. She has coordinated, played advisory role, and supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate students in tertiary institutions. She serves currently as the Acting Head of Department of her institution.
Dr. Popoola attends and participates in conferences both locally and internationally. She is a reviewer, has authored or co-authored for more than 20 articles in both international and national referred journals and has published a book as well as chapters in books.
She is a member of Applied Microbiology International and some other professional bodies. She strongly believes through her research and collaborations the SDG goals 6, 14, etc will be a reality.
Elitsa Penkova
Elitsa’s PhD project is focused on understanding to what extent the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in rivers poses a risk to human health. This builds upon previous work in coastal waters which found that recreational activities, such as bathing, are associated with an increased risk of exposure to and colonisation by ARB. Her project is funded by NERC GW4+ DTP and while based at the University of Exeter, additional project partners include the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and the UK Health Security Agency, with further support from the Environmental Agency.
Francis Hassard
Dr. Francis Hassard is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Public Health Microbiology at Cranfield University and a Visiting Researcher at the University of South Africa. Dr. Hassard is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, a Chartered Biologist, and a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Dr. Hassard's research focuses on microbiological water quality and public health in engineered water systems. His work includes the development of biofilms for water treatment, innovative surveillance methods for pathogen detection in wastewater, and addressing challenges posed by emerging contaminants. Notable highlights of Dr. Hassard's career include his role in the COVID-19 wastewater surveillance initiatives in the UK, where his efforts in schools and prisons significantly contributed to translating public health research into impact.
Gary Hogben
Gary is a professional Microbiologist specialising in the water treatment sector. Since 1995 he has managed a busy laboratory with the UKAS accreditation process. He has overall responsibility for the company’s quality system accreditation to each of ISO9001, ISO14001, ISO45001 and ISO17025. He also has lead responsibility for Legionella Control Association membership.
Gary is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and has Chartered Biologist status. He has Senior Membership of The Water Management Society.
Gary's specialist field is the detection and control of Legionella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli and other bacteria in water. He has extensive experience and contribute to the national and international agenda for Legionella control.
Isabel Douterelo
Isabel is currently at Sheffield University, lecturing on Water and Applied Microbiology. Her research focuses on understanding and solving microbial water quality issues in urban water systems, contributing to the protection of public health and the environment. She has collaborated with public bodies, water companies, and international researchers, providing new insights into the microbial ecology of drinking water systems. Her work has guided water practitioners in making informed decisions and developing effective water management strategies
Kwanrawee Joy Sirikanchana
Dr Kwanrawee Joy Sirikanchana is a Senior Research Scientist at the Laboratory of Biotechnology, Chulabhorn Research Institute, Thailand.
Her research focuses on water and wastewater microbiology, microbial source tracking, wastewater-based epidemiology, antibiotic resistance and microbial risk assessment. Her research has been recognized and collaboratively adopted by government and public entities whose responsibilities are related to water quality management, such as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Public Health, and the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority of Thailand.
Olufunke Bolatito Shittu
Olufunke Shittu currently works at the Department of Microbiology, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.
Olusola Abayomi Ojo-Omoniyi
Olusola Ojo-Omoniyi is a distinguished Associate Professor at Lagos State University, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science. He has done research in the field of Environmental Microbiology & Biotechnology with over 25 years teaching/research experience in one of the foremost Universities in Nigeria. He won international prize of the Belgian Development Cooperation Prize – 2003 for his scholarly publications in Environmental Microbiology/Biotechnology.
His research interest is in biodegradation of xenobiotics in natural environment, pollution control, soil fertility maintenance through the application of Rhizobium technology and solid waste management.
Rachel Poretsky
I am interested in microbial ecology and biogeochemistry, bacterial diversity, and community structure and interactions in natural environments. My research involves exploring the functional diversity of bacteria in marine, freshwater, and other environments through the direct retrieval and analysis of microbial genes (metagenomics) and gene transcripts (metatranscriptomics). By identifying factors involved in the activity and diversity of bacteria, it may be possible to better understand how bacterial communities, and consequently, biogeochemical cycles will respond to environmental changes.
Rita Colwell
Rita Colwell is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, senior advisor and chairman emeritus at Canon US Life Sciences, Inc., and president and chairman of CosmosID, Inc.
Dr. Rita Colwell's interests are focused on global infectious diseases, water, and health. Dr. Colwell developed an international network to address emerging infectious diseases and water issues, including safe drinking water for both the developed and developing world, in collaboration with Safe Water Network, headquartered in New York City.
Robin Thorn
I have extensive research experience of working on multidisciplinary research projects, focused on three main sectors; healthcare provision, food security and the environment. At present, the vast majority of my research income is generated through strategic partnerships with industry (UK SMEs) through knowledge exchange and research & development.
Sarah Allard
I am an Assistant Project Scientist in the Gilbert Lab, housed between the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Scripps Intitution of Oceanography. I am interested in exploring how we can harness microbiome research to support environmental recovery after disturbance, safe and productive food systems, and human health. To address growing challenges, such as the presence of emerging contaminants and increasing climate variability, I believe that interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement will be essential.
Theodore M Flynn
My group monitors water quality, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic invertebrates in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.
Yongjun Wei
I currently work as an associate professor at School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, China. My research interests are understanding of environmental microbiome and synthetic Microbiology, and the main aim is application of microbiota and synthetic biology in solving environmental problems
Christiana Okosun
Christiana is a student at the university of Abuja, Nigeria and a researcher at Federal institute of biotechnology, working as a trainee.
Eleftheria Trampari
Dr Eleftheria Trampari is a senior research scientist at the Quadram Institute in Norwich. Her research investigates how foodborne pathogens survive in the food chain.
Eleftheria has a background in Agricultural Biotechnology and Molecular Microbiology, with an interest in understanding how microbial interactions impact food security and, consequently, human health. Given the significant role of fresh produce in transmitting foodborne pathogens and its frequent association with outbreaks, she believes it is imperative to better understand how interactions among commensal bacteria and foodborne pathogens influence establishment of the latest on plants. New research she is leading focuses on exploring the potential of microbial interventions on controlling and potentially suppressing foodborne disease transmission through fresh produce.
Gil Domingue
Gil runs a data analysis consultancy and, as a registered trainer, also offers farm to fork hygiene assessments. Previously he was the R&D Project Manager at GALVmed, a charity for the sustainability of veterinary medicines including vaccines. Gil led sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America projects and found working with poor people was humbling. Gil previously worked for Express Microbiology Ltd, a Food Water Environment analytical lab with UKAS and DEFRA accreditation, and Aviagen Ltd (poultry breeding). As a recruiter, he promoted equality and balanced teams. This was most relevant when training staff from so-called “conservative” countries. Gil gained his Ph. D. at the University of Aston (Birmingham) and then obtained a post-doctoral position in Professor Bill Costerton’s Biofilm Laboratory, the University of Calgary, Canada. He then held a Research Fellowship in the Microbiology Department, University of British Columbia Hospital, Canada. He discharged patient care, clinical research and lecturing duties.
Jake Bell
Jake completed his undergraduate degree in Human Nutrition at Kingston University, which included multiple summer internships in the microbiology laboratories. He also undertook a placement year at the Jodrell laboratory of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, working on plant-microbe interactions through various molecular methods. Jake completed his PhD at Royal Holloway (University of London) under the supervision of Professor Paul Fraser, in plant and microbial molecular biology.
- Twitter:
- @_JakeBell1
Karin Goodburn
Luísa Cruz
Luísa joined MicroHarvest in January 2022 as co-founder and CTO, driven by the passion to bring different disciplines together and deliver sustainable and scalable solutions to current food chain challenges. Behind her is a MSc in Biotechnology from the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal), PhD degree in Bioprocess Technology from Delft University of Technology and 9 years’ experience at Corbion (Netherlands). There she carried out a variety of roles, such as technical management of USP projects, team leader of Process Design and Data Science teams, and Competitive Intelligence & Market Insights manager.
Michael Ukwuru
Michael Ukwuru has a Ph.D in Food Microbiology from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria. He is currently the Head, Department of Food Science and Technology, The Federal Polytechnic, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria. He has carried out a series of community development projects. He has published over 30 articles in journals and has presented 30+ papers in many conferences around the world. He is a member of the Editorial Board of 25+ journals and Editor-in-Chief of two journals. He has reviewed over 200 manuscripts for different journals and research proposals for some funding organizations. He is also a member of the UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Peer Review Development College. His research area is Food Microbiology, Food Fermentation, Food safety and quality management systems, and Bio-processing.
Mitesh Shrestha
Mitesh holds an M.Sc. degree in Biotechnology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is currently the Research Coordinator at Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology (RIBB), Nepal. Apart from research, he also devotes some of his time to academia as an adjunct lecturer for molecular biology and genetic engineering at the Central Department of Biotechnology, Tribhuvan University. He has received several national and international research grants to focus on antimicrobial resistance as well as neglected tropical diseases such as Leishmaniasis. His current research focuses on understanding the prevalence and distribution of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in raw fruits and vegetables.
Nicola Holden
Prakash Sarangi
Dr P K Sarangi is an expert on the production of energy and materials from plant biomass and conducts leading research on microbial biomass utilization towards sustainable energy and materials towards wastes utilization. Dr. Sarangi’s main research is focused on microbial catalytic systems, Microbial cellulose utilization, bioconversion technologies, innovative biomass processing technologies and sustainable bioenergy futures. His expertise is in biomass degradation into bioenergy and biomaterials, lignocellulosic biomass conversion and second generation biofuel and environmental waste remediation. His research focuses for utilzation of agro wastes towards production of different value added phenolic flavour compounds.
Sharad Kamble
Dr Sharad Ramchandra Kamble has a PhD in Life Sciences (Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences) from the University of Bradford. He is a Microbiologist with around 14 years experience with Pharma R&D, Pathology Labs, Research and Medical Devices C&D Validations.
Tivkaa Joseph Amande
Wei Ning Chen
Wei Ning Chen is the Michael Fam Endowed Professor, and Director of Food Science and Technology Programme at Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU FST). He is leading two of the Singapore government funded food initiatives, as Director of Singapore Agri-food Innovation Lab (SAIL), as well as Director of Singapore Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH). He has been an advisor/consultant to overseas universities, government agencies, food industry, and international organizations. He believes in enhancing food security by improving the current food system, in particular through food waste reduction. He has led the development of simple and scalable tech innovations to upcycle food processing side-streams, incorporate the recovered nutrients in the current food system to enhance its circularity while making the processes of making alternative foods more cost-effective. His innovations have demonstrated that addressing current food security challenges can also contribute to building a resilient future food system with more diversity and higher efficiency.
Research interests: fermentation; precision fermentation; -omics analysis; food microbiology; novel foods; food safety; food security
Catriona MacDonald
Dr Catriona Macdonald joined the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment in November 2010 investigating the impacts of environmental change on nutrient cycling and resource allocation within terrestrial environments. Her research interests are geared towards understanding how environmental change impacts nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning and how this affects productivity and sustainability of soils.
Working across natural, agricultural and managed ecosystems, she aims to improve understanding of how factors such as climate change and land management impact microbial-mediated nutrient transformations, and how this feeds back to ecosystem functioning.
To achieve this Catriona uses field-based and controlled environment studies to determine rates of nutrient (C, N and P) transformations, quantify nutrient resource allocation in above- and below-ground pools, as well as investigating the function and diversity of key microbial drivers in C N and P cycles using a range of in-situ approaches (soil CO2 flux, decomposition, net mineralisation), laboratory assays (MicroResp, enzyme activities, potential mineralisation, degradation rates) and molecular approaches (community profiling and sequencing analysis).
Her research experience includes determining the effects of elevated CO2, elevated temperature, drought and atmospheric N deposition, on nutrient cycling and on the functioning and structure and of soil microbial communities, as well as assessing the sustainability of long-term metal contaminated sludge addition in agricultural systems.
Christina Hazard
Our research is dedicated to exploring the diversity and distribution of soil microorganisms and viruses in natural and anthropized ecosystems, the factors influencing their communities and activities, and impact on biogeochemical cycling. Our research includes a focus on specific microbial functional groups such as mycorrhizal fungi, and nitrogen and methane cycling microbes and their viruses
Diane Purchase
Diane is a Professor of Environmental Biotechnology. She is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Biology and the Institution of Environmental Sciences, and a Titular Member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
As a Professor of Environmental Biotechnology with over 20 years experience in the field, in particular researching the role of microorganisms in protecting the environment, she is keen to make a meaningful contribution to raise awareness of microorganisms and the environment.
Don A Cowan
I was educated in New Zealand at the University of Waikato and completed a period of postdoctoral study there before moving to University College London as a Lecturer in 1985. After 16 years in London, I accepted the position at Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, where I was a Senior Professor and Director of the 60-strong Institute Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics. I moved to the University of Pretoria in May 2012 in the dual role as Director of both the University of Pretoria Institutional Research Theme in Genomics and my research group, the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics. The latter is housed in a newly refurbished 1000m2 laboratory suite on the Hatfield Campus.
I have published over 350 research papers, review articles and book chapters, and sit on the Editorial Boards of 13 international journals.
I hold the posts of Professor Emeritus at the University of the Western Cape and of Adjunct Professor at the University of Waikato (NZ), was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa in 2007, as a Member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa in 2008, and as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2009. I was awarded an NRF A rating in 2013, the UWC Vice-Rector’s Award for Research Excellence in 2008 and the South African Society for Microbiology Silver Medal in 2009. In 2015, I received the Chancellor’s award for Research Excellence at the University of Pretoria.
My research activities in microbial ecology encompass several fields, but mostly linked by the theme of ‘environmental extremes’. My collaborators include researchers in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Zambia, Argentina, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, and the US. Since my PhD studies, I have retained an interest in the ecology and enzymology of extreme thermophiles, organisms living in heated soils and hot water. For the past decade I have worked on the microbial ecology of Namib Desert soils and at the lower end of the biotic temperature scale, studying the microbiology of the Dry Valleys of Eastern Antarctica. My latest project is a continental-scale survey of soil microbial diversity. With 9 other partner nations, we are collecting 1000 soil samples from southern, eastern, western and northern Africa and aim to analyze the soil microbial community structures in the context of macro-environmental and geographic parameters.
Juan Luis Ramos
Lucie Malard
I am a microbial ecologist interested in the biogeography and distribution of microorganisms in Alpine and Polar regions. I work on all groups of microbes with a focus on terrestrial and airborne ecosystems.
Marcela Hernadez
My career is dedicated to studying how microbial communities establish in soils perturbed either by human manipulation or natural disturbance, specifically methanogens in paddy rice soils, carbon monoxide oxidisers in volcanic soils and antimicrobial resistance in agricultural soils. I use high-throughput sequencing and stable-isotope probing to assess community diversity and function.
My current research in the Murrell lab at UEA involves the isolation of metagenome-assembled genomes from natural gas seeps and their characterisation as players in biogeochemical cycles of the components of natural gases such as propane, methane and ethane.
In my group, I will investigate the importance of microbes in the early establishment of volcanic soils and their impact on the establishment of moss and specifically characterise CO-oxidising microbes, including the Ktedonobacterales. The diversity and ecophysiology of this functional group in the environment are poorly documented and impair our ability to quantify the biological sink for CO and the contribution of microbes to mitigate the atmospheric burden of CO in response to global change.
Maria Tsiafouli
I'm a Researcher and Teacher at the School of Biology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the field of Ecology.
I took part in several research projects related to climate change, biodiversity, soil biodiversity, organic farming, as well as agricultural, forest and wetland ecosystems in the Mediterranean area. I also worked at the Greek Biotope and Wetland Centre of the Goulandris Museum of Natural History where I was involved in projects related to nature protected areas and the Natura 2000 network.
My broader research interest is in investigating the effect of climate and human activities, and especially agricultural activities on different elements of biodiversity (species, communities, habitats, landscapes) and ecosystem services. Moreover I’m interested in the most neglected part of biodiversity; i.e soil biodiversity and in the soil food web functions that are linked to the outcome of ecosystem services.
Melissa Cregger
Dr. Cregger is an ecologist broadly interested in understanding microbial community dynamics across ecosystems, and how changes in microbial community structure may influence ecosystem level processes. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the potential for changes in microbial diversity and composition to influence the health of associated host organisms and to alter large scale nutrient fluxes. Her research spans scales from the molecule to the ecosystem level, taking advantage of modern techniques to fully understand microbial interactions. Dr. Cregger received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2012 at the University of Tennessee under the guidance of Dr. Aimee Classen. After her Ph.D. she proceeded directly to a prestigious post-doctoral fellowship at the Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois in the Biocomplexity theme. In 2014, she left the University of Illinois to begin a post-doctoral appointment with Dr. Chris Schadt at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 2015, she received a staff appointment at ORNL when she was awarded a Liane Russell Fellowship. Dr. Cregger is an active member in the Ecological Society of America, and a subject matter editor for Ecological Monographs and Ecology.
Nasmille Larke-Mejia
I am an Environmental Microbiologist with a PhD from the School of Environmental Sciences at University of East Anglia (2018). Before coming to the UK, I studied a BSc in Biology, a BSc in Microbiology and a MSc in Environmental Microbiology at Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia).
During my first studies, under the supervision of Dr Jenny Dussan, I isolated and characterised bacteria thriving on burnt oils and the explosive ANFO, both prevalent in the daily mining operations of Cerrejón, a northern Colombian open-pit coal mine (where I grew up). During my doctoral studies, under the supervision of Professor J Colin Murrell, I characterised novel soil and phyllosphere microorganisms that use isoprene as their sole source of C using techniques including stable isotope probing (SIP), amplicon sequencing and metagenome analysis.
Post PhD, I have focused on using metagenomics to investigate low-abundance microorganisms. My first postdoctoral placement was at Earlham Institute, working for the GROW Colombia project, where I studied the soils affected by different agricultural practices in Colombian sugarcane plantations and a fungal pathogen for coffee plants.
Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher with Dr Matthew Gilmour at the Quadram Institute, UK, specializing in metagenomics and pathogen identification using short- and long-read sequencing.
Thulani Makhalanyane
Uffe Nielsen
Uffe received his PhD in 2008 from University of Aberdeen, Scotland, in close collaboration with the Macaulay Institute (now the James Hutton Institute) and Center of Hydrology and Biology (CEH). His PhD research focused on the distribution and community composition of soil biota (microbes and soil mites in particular) across various spatial scales in two contrasting habitats. This research mainly targeted the questions of what structures belowground communities and how belowground communities respond to environment parameters and environmental changes (such as land use and climate).
Through his research at CSU Uffe continued investigating patterns of, and mechanisms underlying, biodiversity and community composition belowground, whilst also trying to establish and quantify potential links between soil biodiversity and belowground community composition and ecosystem processes/functioning and ecosystem services.
Ahmed Shibl
Dr. Ahmed Shibl is a multidisciplinary scientist with a background spanning microbiology, biotechnology, and bioinformatics. He currently serves as a member of the ISME Early Career Scientists Committee, a Champion within the National Microbiome Data Collaborative, and a former ASM Young Ambassador. With a broad interest in leveraging multiomics approaches, his research aims to better understand the functional adaptation of microbiomes in diverse ecosystems, ranging from the ocean to the human body. His current work focuses on elucidating the potential influence of microbial communities on host interactions and climate change events. Ahmed’s overarching goal is to address knowledge gaps concerning the intricate links between microbes, genomes, metabolites, and health/disease markers, ultimately contributing to solutions for contemporary societal and environmental challenges.
Alexandre S. Rosado
Professor Alexandre Rosado is a microbial Ecologist studying different aspects of microbial and microbiome sciences. Rosado's research is inter- and multidisciplinary at the interface of basic and applied environmental processes (microbes/microbiome-based solutions).
He is a Professor of Bioscience at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Former Full Professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and Visiting Professor at the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California - Davis, USA. Director of the Institute of Microbiology (2010-2014) and Vice-President of the Brazilian Society of Microbiology (2011-2014); holds a BSc in Biological Sciences, MSc (Microbiology), PhD in Microbiology from UFRJ and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), The Netherlands.
His main research interests are centred around the study of microbial diversity and new microbial metabolisms, using conventional tools associated with multi-omics approaches to understanding the evolutionary history, ecological roles, and physiological capacity and capabilities of free-living and symbiotic microorganisms, including those found at the extremes of where life exists. He is also interested in astrobiology, exploring concepts and fundamentals on how extremophiles can benefit crops, other biotechnological developments on Earth, and space research.
Andre Antunes
Dr André Antunes is an environmental microbiologist, having devoted most of his research life to the study of microbial communities in marine and extreme environments. He is particularly interested in microbial biodiversity, changes in microbial community structure across environmental gradients, adaptations to extreme conditions and in cross-disciplinary research in the fields of geomicrobiology and astrobiology.
Chuanlun Zhang
Professor Dr. Chuanlun Zhang is Chair Professor, Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1994, worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1994 to 1998, taught as an assistant professor in the Department of Geology at University of Missouri from 1998 to 2002 and as an associate and full professor (tenured) at the University of Georgia from 2002 to 2014. He also served as a chair professor at the State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology in Tongji University in China from 2008 to 2012. He was invited to join the Southern University of Science and Technology of China in 2017 to lead a program in Microbial Oceanography and Geomicrobiology and serves as the vice chair of the Department of Ocean Science and Engineering.
Professor Zhang has been dedicating his career to biogeochemical and geomicrobiological research as well as student training for over 20 years. His research interests include the role that microorganisms play in the environment and energy transfer, life evolution and global climate change, and technology driven paradigm shift in ocean ecological research. His research strength lies in integration of lipid biomarkers, stable isotopes and molecular DNA to study microbial (particularly archaeal) activities in carbon and nitrogen cycles. Major research topics include, but are not limited to, geomicrobiology in ocean trenches, deep subsurface, hot springs and other extreme environments; biogeochemistry associated with marine gas hydrates; genomics of marine and terrestrial archaea; development and application of climate and environmental proxies; and applying drone array technologies for monitoring ocean environment change and collecting water samples for simultaneous examination of ecological changes across time and space.
Prof. Zhang has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers in international journals of earth and life sciences. Dr. Zhang is the Chief Editor for the Biology of Archaea specialty in Frontiers in Microbiology (FM) and on editorial boards for Archaea and SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences. In June of 2016, he was elected as the Vice Chair (2018) and Chair (2020) of the Gordon Research Conference on Ocean Biogeochemistry.
Connie Lovejoy
My longstanding research interest began at UC Davis where I discovered that single celled algae were diverse, important and very attractive. Since algae are everywhere the voyage has taken me to both Polar Regions and I have explored everything from the tiniest ponds in Northern Québec to the Ocean basins. The realization that algae are protists and most eat bacteria led to my overarching interest in how microbial food webs are constructed and the interactions between protists, Bacteria and Archaea and how such interactions influence global carbon and nutrient cycling.
Technology has largely driven this field and the application of molecular tools to microbial ecology means that it is now possible to examine when and where species of the three domains of life co-occur and even to elucidate the diversity of key genes involved in for example carbon and nitrogen cycles. The impact of global climate change on physical biological interactions provides the lattice of my most recent research directions and is strongly influenced by the philosophy of integrative and systems biology.
Elizabeth Archer
Emil Ruff
Emil Ruff is a microbial ecologist at the Ecosystems Center and Bay Paul Center. His research focuses on microbial interactions and population dynamics as drivers of community function. To disentangle microbial food webs, Emil mainly studies ecosystems with reduced complexity, such as natural or laboratory enrichment cultures, microbial blooms or extreme habitats. His work has improved our understanding of the sources and sinks of the greenhouse gas methane in seafloor ecosystems and groundwater aquifers. Currently, he is investigating the effect of bioirrigation on the removal of methane from wetland sediments. He has just received a 2021 Simons Foundation Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution Award to study mutualistic interactions between anoxygenic phototrophs and sulfur-reducing bacteria. His lab is also involved in projects studying i) the effect of pollutants on the microbiome of sea anemones, ii) the interactions between sulfur-cycling bacteria and cord grass roots in salt marshes, iii) plastics degradation in the deep sea, and iv) microbial degradation of macromolecules in hydrothermal sediments.
Janina Rahlff
The research of Dr. Janina Rahlff focusses on viral-bacterial interactions at air-water interfaces and their associated surface features. Her research deals with marine ecosystems but also extreme environments such as polar (Arctic) regions or the atmosphere. Dr. Rahlff is interested in microbial metabolic processes relevant for gas exchange and biogeochemistry, adaptations of viruses and microbes to their respective habitats and how microbial communities and virus-host interactions function across ecosystem boundaries.
Research interests: ocean, atmosphere, air, marine, microbial ecology, bacteria, bacteriophages, viruses, viromics, metagenomics.
Michael Cunliffe
I received a degree in environmental biology from the University of Liverpool, and a MSc and PhD in Microbiology from the University of Manchester. After a postdoc at the University of Warwick, I joined the Marine Biological Association (MBA) in 2010 as a MBA Research Fellow (Group Leader). In 2014, I started a joint appointment between the University of Plymouth and MBA, where I am currently Associate Professor of Marine Microbiology in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences and a MBA Senior Research Fellow. I create knowledge through research and communicate knowledge through teaching, outreach and knowledge exchange activities. I study a range of topics in microbial biology, ecology, and evolution. I work both in the lab and out in the marine environment, locally around Plymouth and with samples collected from distant locations, including polar regions and the open ocean.
Michael S Rappe
Mike is a tenured Research Professor at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, and is a member of the graduate faculty with the Departments of Oceanography, Microbiology, and the interdisciplinary Marine Biology Graduate Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The overarching theme of his research is to understand the impact of microbial genetic diversity on ocean ecology, and interpret this diversity through the lens of bacterial taxonomy and evolution. He investigates the ecology and evolution of marine microorganisms by combining surveys of natural microbial communities, nucleic acid sequence data, and studies with model systems in controlled laboratory settings.
Terence McGenity
Terry McGenity is a Professor at the University of Essex, UK. His PhD, investigating the microbial ecology of ancient salt deposits (University of Leicester), was followed by postdoctoral positions at the Japan Marine Science and Technology Centre (JAMSTEC, Yokosuka) and the Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology (University of Reading). His overarching research interest is to understand how microbial communities function and interact to influence major biogeochemical processes. He has broad interests in microbial ecology and diversity, particularly with respect to carbon cycling (especially the second most abundantly produced hydrocarbon in the atmosphere, isoprene), and is driven to better understand how microbes cope with, or flourish, in hypersaline and poly-extreme environments.
Adam Roberts
Graduated in Applied Biology from Coventry University in 1995 and with a PhD in molecular microbiology from the University of London in 2002. Worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at University College London until joining LSTM in February 2017. His research activities focus on the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance amongst bacteria and the development of new drugs in order to treat infections. He is an advisor to the Longitude Prize and the Royal Society of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, runs The Transposon Registry(opens in a new tab) and co-ordinates the JPIAMR funded Network of European and African Researchers on AMR (NEAR-AMR(link is external)(opens in a new tab)).
Binod Rayamajhee
Binod joined the School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, Sydney in March 2020 to pursue his PhD project on corneal infection focusing Acanthamoeba keratitis under the supervision of Dr Nicole Carnt and Prof Mark Willcox of UNSW, Sydney and Prof Fiona L. Henriquez from the Infection and Microbiology Research Group at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). Binod holds a Master’s in medical microbiology from Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 2017. After completion of his master, Binod worked in different organisations in his home country focusing on infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance and infection control where he has cofounded a research institute in 2017 targeting infectious diseases and has received some noteworthy grants in the past. Binod has profound interest in interdisciplinary collaboration with diverse groups of people for open science, science advocacy, and science for all so, advocating, and championing for translational research are particular interests of Binod outside of his laboratory walls. On the same note, he has served as a community Ambassador of eLife Sciences Publications Ltd., UK (2019 - 2020) and an international representative for the Early Career Scientists (ECS) Committee, AMI (2018 - 2019).
Blessing Mbaebie Oyedemi
Dr Blessing Mbaebie Oyedemi is a research fellow at Nottingham Trent University with research interest in natural product drug discovery for molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance research (AMR), both in academia and clinical research settings. As an AMI member, her passion resonates as an advocate for sustainable antimicrobial interventions through research, strengthening education and promoting policy.
She believes strongly in the values of AMI and the opportunities provided to all levels of scientists, researchers, and all public walks of life to be a change agent trying to solve everyday challenges and influence change through microbiology
Burkhard Tümmler
Burkhard Tümmler received his doctorates in the fields of physical chemistry and human genetics in 1979 and 1984 respectively. After a research stay at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, he worked at the Institute for Biophysical Chemistry of the Hannover Medical School from 1983, and habilitated in 1991 in the field of biochemistry. Having the personal history of many years of basic, translational and clinical research on cystic fibrosis, he currently investigates the population biology, genomics, pathogenicity and physiology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and studies the airway microbial metagenome in health and chronic lung diseases such as asthma, bronchiectasis or cystic fibrosis.
Research interests: cystic fibrosis; respiratory infections; chronic lung disease; airway microbiome; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Pseudomonas genomics; next generation sequencing
Caterina Guzman-Verri
Caterina holds a Professorship position at the Veterinary School at Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica, associated to the Tropical Disease Research Program. Her research group is interested in understanding why microorganisms cause infection in humans and animals. Most disease-causing microorganisms in humans come from inappropriate contact with animals, where transgression of natural barriers is critical. Being able to understand how these biological barriers are transgressed, particularly how a microorganism can adapt to living in another host, is relevant in order to understand how the microorganisms that cause damage emerge. Bacteria of the genus Brucella share 96-98% similarity at genome level, despite infecting different species of animals. We use high-resolution techniques, such as the sequencing of complete genomes of Brucella, combined with molecular and cell biology approaches, in order to understand how specificity is stablished in different animal species.
Delveen Ibrahim
Since 2006, I have been a lecturer at the University of Duhok in the Biology Department of the College of Science. My PhD in Microbiology from Nottingham University in the UK was awarded to me in 2017. My doctoral research focused on ESBL-producing E. coli and multi-drug resistance. This study involved phenotypic evaluation of the selected isolates, molecular characterization of several resistance genes, whole genome sequencing of selected strains to examine the genetic and genomic context surrounding -lactamase genes. My goal is to better understand how bacteria are killed by current and previous antimicrobial treatments, as well as how bacteria develop resistance to them. Currently, I am a Global ambassador for AMI and a junior editor for Letters in Applied Microbiology (LAM) journal.
Elaine Cloutman-Green
Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green has worked as a Clinical Scientist since 2004. In 2015 she completed a PhD under the NIHR CSO Doctoral Fellowship scheme and her research on prevention of healthcare associated infection led to an NIHR ICA Clinical Lectureship award in 2016. In 2015 she was appointed the first UK based International Ambassador for the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology of America. In 2016 she became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Royal College of Pathologists and was appointed as a NICE Expert. She represents Healthcare Scientists as part of the ACB, and as Country Ambassador for the American Society of Microbiology.
Guadalupe Virginia Nevarez Moorillon
Dr. Nevárez-Moorillón has been a full-time professor at the School of Chemical Sciences, Autonomous University of Chihuahua, Mexico, for the last 35 years. She graduated as a bacteriological chemist from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. She completed her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of North Texas studying the bioremediation of soil contaminated with hydrocarbons, under the supervision of Dr. Gerard Roland Vela. She is a member of the National Outstanding Researchers System of Mexico (Level II) and has been granted the National Award on Food Science and Technology. She is also a regular member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences.
Her research interests include environmental microbiology, as well as predictive microbiology applied to food systems, the role of lactic acid bacteria in traditional fermented foods, and antimicrobial properties of spices, such as clove and oregano. Under her supervision, more than 50 undergraduate students, as well as more than 50 master students and 15 doctoral students have completed their degrees.
Dr. Nevárez-Moorillón also serves as AMI's Global Ambassador for Mexico.
Hannah Trivett
Hannah completed her undergraduate degree in Microbiology in 2020 and recently completed her PhD in Medical Microbiology at the University of Liverpool. Her PhD investigated the utility of long-read metagenomics and Hi-C sequencing to resolve closely related organisms found within the gastrointestinal tract and the feasibility of integrating metagenomics into infectious disease diagnostic workflows. Her PhD included a qualitative study to explore the current infectious disease diagnostic landscape and the practicalities of integrating metagenomics for routine use in clinical microbiology laboratories.
In 2024 Hannah joined the Hall Lab as a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham to explore microbe-microbe interactions using experimental and bioinformatic approaches across several human microbiomes, including the vaginal and gut microbiome and their impact on human health.
Hasan Yesilkaya
I studied veterinary medicine at Ankara University Turkey. After completion of my PhD in Leicester on oxidative stress resistance of important human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae under the supervision of Prof Peter Andrew I worked in Utrecht as an EMBO fellow then moved to Aberdeen University where I studied transposable elements of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a postdoctoral fellow. Since 2003 I have been working as a research fellow (2003-2012) lecturer (2012-2020) then as an associate professor (2020 onward) at the University of Leicester.
James Ebdon
Prof James Ebdon is an Environmental Microbiologist interested in the role of water in the spread and control of water-related diseases. He is particularly interested in how we can protect human health and the aquatic environment. His teaching and research focus on three main areas: (i) the monitoring and provision of safe water and sanitation in low-resource settings; (ii) the behaviour of microorganisms (bacteria and viruses (including phages) in engineered and natural environments; and (iii) the development and application of innovative, low-cost methods for assessing water quality and treatment efficacy. In Malawi, he worked on a UNICEF-funded 'Assessment of Drinking Water Quality in Rural Areas' which led to the re-design and improved management of rural wells, providing low-income communities with safer drinking water. More recently, he was involved in a Gates Foundation-funded project in India 'SaniPath Typhoid' which sought to enhance understanding of typhoid transmission pathways in India’s mega-slums (Kolkata).
He is currently leading an ELRHA-funded collaboration with the International NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) at the Rohingya refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh which is optimising the chemical treatment of human faecal waste during the onset of humanitarian crises.
Kate Lagerstrom
Kate recently completed her PhD in Biology at Stanford University where she studied the genetic diversity of distribution of Escherichia coli among a wild animal community. She will soon begin a post-doctoral research position at Princeton University where she will continue to study human impacts on host-associated microbial communities. Since 2024, Kate has served as a trustee on AMI's Executive Committee.
- Twitter:
- @kate_lagerstrom
Lesley Oglive
Lesley is Director of the Secretariat at the Global AMR R&D Hub, a global partnership focused on addressing challenges and improving co-ordination and collaboration in AMR R&D using a One Health approach. She has over 15 years-experience working in academia as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Brighton and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, focused on the human gut virome and the discovery and characterisation of therapeutic phage. Lesley represents the Global AMR R&D Hub on a number of advisory groups, including for the World Health Organisation and the European Commission.
Sally Cutler
Sally's passion for microbiology started with a BSc degree course from University College London from which she graduated in 1981. Her research interests are largely focussed upon spirochaetes and bacterial zoonoses, particularly those with an impact upon developing countries. Sally has been a member of AMI since the days when it was the Society for Applied Bacteriology.
Sarah Hooper
An enthusiastic, self-motivated microbiologist and principle investigator with extensive expertise in the field of infectious disease, a good publication record and significant experience in the design, execution and management of research projects.
Sean Gibbons
Sean Gibbons received his PhD in biophysical sciences from the University of Chicago in 2015, dual-advised by Jack Gilbert and Maureen Coleman. His graduate work focused on using microbial communities as empirical models for testing ecological theory. Gibbons completed his postdoctoral training in Eric Alm’s laboratory in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT from 2015-2018. His postdoctoral work focused on developing techniques to quantify individual-specific eco-evolutionary dynamics within the human gut microbiome. Gibbons investigates how the structure and composition of evolving ecological networks of microorganisms change across environmental gradients. In particular, he is interested in how ecological communities in the gut change and adapt to individual people over their lifespans (i.e. host genotype, host development and host behavior) and how these changes impact human health. His lab develops computational and experimental tools for investigating host-associated microbial communities to explore the interactions between ecology, evolution and ecosystem function, applying these insights to develop personalized interventions for improving human health and well-being.
Supram Hosuru Subramanya
Dr. Supram's research interests include infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. His main focus is on genomic one-health surveillance and understanding in-depth how multi-drug resistant bacteria (MDRs) colonize and infect humans in order to provide the best possible healthcare. He has collaborated with researchers around the world. Supram has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles. Currently, he is an Associate Editor for journals such as Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy-Antimicrobial Resistance (JAC-AMR) and PLOS ONE. He has received more than 20 awards from various international scientific societies. Having demonstrated excellence in research and commitment to advancing healthcare epidemiology, infection prevention, and diagnostics in LMICs, Supram was appointed as an International Young Ambassador of Science by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). In his previous position as assistant professor of microbiology at Manipal College of Medical Science, Nepal, he oversaw the diagnostic microbiology laboratory in addition to teaching medical students.
Upon obtaining his bachelor and master of science degrees in medical microbiology, Supram did his doctoral research on the AMR one-health approach and received his Ph.D. from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India.
Zina Alfahl
Zina joined the School of Pharmacy at Queen’s University Belfast, UK in September 2018 to purse her PhD degree in the relationship between airway microbiome composition, inflammation and clinical outcomes in patients with Bronchiectasis. In 2018, Zina acquired a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacy from Al Ain University of Science and Technology, UAE. In 2019, she was awarded the Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) award. Zina is currently the Postgraduate Chair and acting as a student representative member at the SWAN SAT team for gender equality at the School of Pharmacy, QUB. Zina is interested in engaging with scientific community and in promoting microbiology.
- Twitter:
- @AlfahlZina
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