Michelle is broadly interested in the ecology, evolution, and genomic basis of species interactions, especially within microbiomes and between plants and microbial communities. She encourages integrative research on how beneficial interactions and hidden microbial players drive ecological and evolutionary processes at scales ranging from genes to ecosystems and their roles in conservation, restoration, and sustainable agriculture. Michelle completed her masters at Rice University, PhD at UC Davis, and postdoctoral research at Univ of Toronto and Michigan State before joining the faculty at University of Miami’s Department of Biology. To learn more about Michelle and her research interests, please see her CV page and the lab’s research page!

I am Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome. In 2021 I obtained the Habilitation to Full Professor.
I graduated (summa cum laude) in Biological Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome. I then moved to the University of Wales, College of Cardiff, Wales (UK) to carry out research for my PhD in Biochemistry, awarded in 1991. After short research visits in Cardiff University (UK), Biozentrum (Basel, CH) and IPK (Gatersleben, DE) I took up research and teaching position (Researcher/Assistant Professor) at University of Rome La Sapienza where I continued my scientific career.
Since I was a resercher, I expanded my expertise also to molecular biology and microbiology, working on the transcriptional regulation and the biochemistry of the Gad system, the major acid resistance system in Escherichia coli (commensal and pathogenic) and other enteric bacteria. I am also expert on PLP-dependent enzymes, in particular glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and GABA-transaminase (GABA-T).
I am a leading expert in the field of bacterial responses to acid stress and written reviews on invitation in prestigious journals and in books. Since August 2022 I am Chair of the COST Action CA18113 "EuroMicropH" April 2019-October 2023, a network of scientists from 33 countries gathered around the topic of "Understanding and exploiting the impacts of low pH on microorganisms". Since the time I was a researcher, I developed my career as university teacher and independent scientist. In the years I have established a strong network of international collaborations from bio-organic chemistry, to enzymology and biocatalysis, to structural biology, to microbiology and applied pharmaceutical sciences.

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Donato Giovannelli is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Naples Federico II and an Affiliated Scientist at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Japan, and CNR-IRBIM, National Research Council of Italy. He is interested in the planetary-scale contribution of microbial communities in the context of biogeochemical cycles and in the coevolution of the geosphere and biosphere. His group combines traditional microbiology techniques with molecular tools and computational approaches to investigate the microbiology of extreme environments. In 2020 Donato received a ERC Starting Grant 2020 to study the coevolution of life and Planet through the availability of trace elements as cofactors. Donato has extensive fieldwork experience and he has participated in or organized over 40 international research expeditions around the world and 20 oceanographic expeditions, and has active collaborations across diverse disciplines including, geochemistry, mineralogy, volcanology and astrophysics.

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PhD in engineering, environmental and processes with international mention, specialized in environment, water treatment, anaerobic digestion of biomass, AnMBR, energy and resource recovery. Constant interest in research, development and innovation in the field of the environment and, specifically, in the treatment and purification of wastewater.

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Peter Lund is a molecular microbiologist with particular research interests in how bacteria respond to different stresses in their environment. These are studied with a range of genetic and biochemical tools including high throughput methods. He is currently retired from teaching and administration but runs an active research programme funded by BBSRC, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, with several international collaborations, and he also leads a European COST Action. He has worked in several other research fields in both academia and industry. In addition, he has held positions on national advisory committees dealing with aspects of regulation of genetically-modified organisms.

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I am an Assistant Professor in Biochemistry. I am the lab leader of Microbial Stress Lab that focus on the identification and characterisation of novel bacterial molecular systems involved in the homeostasis and metabolism of metals and reactive oxygen species. Models organisms are pathogenic bacteria. Our group has expertise in the isolation, biophysical and structural characterisation of (metallo)proteins/enzymes: heterologous expression, spectroscopy, steady-state and fast-kinetics, gene expression, ITC, NMR.

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The research focus in my group is on the molecular mechanisms that food-borne bacterial pathogens use to sense and respond to harsh conditions in their environment. Pathogens encounter major physicochemical changes as they transition from food into the host, particularly in relation to pH, osmolarity, oxygen concentration, light and temperature.
Understanding how pathogenic bacteria detect and respond to these changes is critical if we are to devise sensible strategies to prevent their entry into the food chain and to prevent infections from arising in the human population.
In my laboratory we study two important food-borne pathogens, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli. Current projects on L. monocytogenes are addressing the role of an alternative sigma factor called SigmaB in sensing stress and regulating the appropriate transcriptional response. We are also examining the influence of visible light on L. monocytogenes, including both the mechanism of sensing light and the response generated.
Another project is investigating the response to this pathogen to low pH and in particular the role of glutamate decarboxylation in surviving the transition into the host. Projects on E. coli are addressing the role of the RpoS-mediated stress response in allowing adaptation to non-host environments, in particular soil environments. This is significant because transmission to the food and water chain can be significantly enhanced if strains adapt to long-term survival in non-host environments. Together these projects are seeking to identify novel Achilles heels in these pathogens with a view to mitigating their impact on human health

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I am a creative thinker, researcher, and start-up analyst with a biotechnology background. I have been involved in diverse research topics related to bio-inspiration, project management, and start-up development. I'd love to present or find ideas and provide actual data analysis.
I tried to learn about biology in general when I was in my bachelor's study. I continued my study in applied biotechnology to see how the lab-scale experiment could fulfill the demand within the biotech industry. Now, I try to learn how data could be utilized in any level of industry throughout product or technology development by using microfluidics technology and bioinformatics approach.

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Head of the Laboratory of Membrane Transport at The Czech Academy of Sciences.
We study the proteins transporting compounds and signals across the cell membranes. These proteins, called transporters, assure the uptake of nutrients into the cells, efflux of waste compounds from cells and communication with the environment. To study the animal and plant transporters, we mainly use a model eukaryotic microorganism – yeasts. Our research is focused mainly on:

• Structure, function and regulation of cell transport systems at protein molecule level.
• Role of transporters in specific cell properties and in diseases.
• Role of transporters in Candida virulence and pathogenicity.
• Development of new techniques to estimate cell physiological parameters.

I am a young group leader fascinated by the ingenious and complex yet highly efficient and optimized metabolism of microbial cells. In general, I am interested in quantitative understanding of the governing principles of metabolism in bacteria at a whole-cell level. The recently established ERA Chair in Gas Fermentation Technologies aims to address global challenges of biosustainability through integration of gas fermentation technologies with systems and synthetic biology with a focus on both fundamental understanding of acetogen metabolism and on metabolic engineering of superior cell factories.

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Postdoctoral Fellow at Research Foundation Flanders - FWO; performing microbial evolutionary research of my own and supervision of technical staff and students both at the level of master and PhD.


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PHD ScholarPHD Scholar at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Focus on Microbial Genetics and computational biology.

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Julia is Assistant Professor at the Research Unit for Water Quality Management at TU Wien, leader of the research group Molecular Microbiology in Sanitary Engineering and personal member of the ICC Water and Health. She is broadly interested in microbial ecology with an emphasis on health-related water microbiology. Her current research focuses on wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) and antibiotic resistances in water. Before starting her current tenure track position, she did two PostDocs at University of Vienna and KL Krems. She completed her PhD at TU Wien within the DK Water Resource Systems and studied biology at University Würzburg.

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Nick Wierckx is leader of the department of Microbial Catalysis in the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences IBG-1 of the Forschungszentrum Jülich. He is also appointed as full professor at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. His research focuses on the bio-based production of chemicals from biomass or waste streams using microorganisms. Major research themes include metabolic engineering of bacteria and fungi, the microbial conversion of plastic waste, the development and application of synthetic biology tools and the systems analysis of microbial metabolism.

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