Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Protist diversity and ecology
- Evolution of eukaryotic cells
- Metabolism in plastids & mitochondria
- Photosynthesis
Publications
Biography
I joined the School of Biological Sciences in 2021 as a Lecturer in Ecology. Since my early university days I have had keen interest in organismal evolution. I realized microbial eukaryotes are an underexplored source for new discovery and, in 2013, I completed my Phd degree in Evolutionary microbiology at the University of British Columbia. Findings from my Phd work and subsequent fellowships at San Diego State University and University College London uncovered new groups of eukaryotes and origins for their photosynthesis and parasitism. I later began to use single-cell sequencing and molecular genetics to understand the ecology of uncultivated protists and metabolism at the cellular level. In January 2021, I started a research group at the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences before joining the University of Southampton in December of the same year. I keep sharing my passion for single-celled algae, parasites, and heterotrophs with my students through research and teaching.