Area(s) of Specialization:
- Metagenomics, Bioinformatics, Microbial ecology, microbial diversity and cultivation
We work with various model systems ranging from plants and soil, to organisms in the ocean and streams, to human gut.
Research:
- Plant-soil microbiome
- Microbiome of the aquatic, plants and soil
- Plant host-microbe interaction
- Gut microbiome
- Coral-microbiome
- Coral host-microbe interaction
Our research uses a combination of genomics enabled technologies (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics) to inventory microbial genes, functions and expressions. Combining with chemical and processes data, we create a profile of microbial functions that contribute to critical host-microbes-environment interaction.
Our research primarily falls into the following three main themes — 1) using computational approaches to study populations of genomes after ecological disturbances, 2) using culturing techniques to isolate populations of interest, 3) to determine the mechanisms of microbial ecological succession, and the interplay between the microbiome and its host/environment. In collaboration with other colleagues, we synthesize these multi-omic information with environmental biochemical insights to unravel how these microbial populations is critical to the heath of the environmental and host, especially in the context of environmental perturbations.
Keywords: Biology – Studies the influence of microbiome to cancer development and therapeutics
Subject areas:
- Microbiology and Immunology
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
