Staff Profile

Microbes, including bacteria and archaea, dominate ocean ecosystems and are essential for various biogeochemical processes. However, their lifestyles are modulated by viruses. Our research focuses on understanding the ecology and evolution of viruses in the oceans (coastal and open ocean) ecosystems. Ocean waters sustain human activities and support diverse marine life, including corals, which constitute less than 1% of the coastal ecosystem but hosts the highest biodiversity on Earth.

Surprisingly, little is known about the role of viruses especially within marine eukaryotes. To address this gap in knowledge, our lab employs a multi-prong approach, that involves, computational biology approaches (‘dry lab’), omics-(metaT-metaG-metaProt-metabolomic) (‘wet lab’) approaches.  In addition, to in vivo and in situ virus-symbiont-coral co-culture experiments to qualitative and quantitative assess the impact/or roles of viruses within marine eukaryotes under various anthropogenic stresses.

Our goal is to uncover the intricate relationships between viruses and various ocean life forms, shedding light on their importance in ecology, evolution, ecosystem health and resilience within the global Oceans.