I am a researcher (Principal Investigator) in the Microbial Ecology Group at the Department of Biology. My central research question is: how does climate change reshape soil microbial communities, and what does that mean for long-term soil carbon storage and nutrient availability?

I take a whole microbial community approach and treat soil as a connected, multi-trophic system. I study bacteria and fungi alongside their predators, especially protists, to understand how community composition, interaction networks, and trophic control shape organic matter decomposition, transformation, and persistence.

To do this, I combine high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing (amplicon sequencing and metatranscriptomics) with quantitative stable isotope probing to identify which organisms are actively decomposing organic matter in situ. I also use functional genomics in controlled experiments to link decomposition capacity to specific genes and pathways, and I track microbially driven changes in organic matter chemistry using FTIR and XPS to connect biological mechanisms to soil carbon persistence.