Our research focuses on the genetic basis of bacterial carbon and sulfur cycling in the ocean, with the goal of understanding the role of marine bacteria in the productivity of the ocean and the formation and flux of climatically active gases. Tools from molecular microbial ecology and ecological genomics are used to explore bacterial processes and their regulation in seawater.

Current projects are investigating phytoplankton-derived metabolites that support bacterial growth in the ocean; the transformation of organic sulfur compounds by surface ocean bacteria, including DMSP and sulfonates; and the communities of bacteria that inhabit the ‘phycosphere’, the nutrient-enriched area surrounding living phytoplankton cells.

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