Early Career Spotlight

Every month, the Early Career Scientist Committee will spotlight a fellow EC researcher


June 2024

Benjamin Havenga, a Stellenbosch University Postdoctoral researcher, and his paper "Genotypic and phenotypic comparison of clinical and environmental Acinetobacter baumannii strains."

Dr. Havenga's paper shows clinical Acinetobacter baumannii isolates are more resistant to antibiotics and form more biofilm than environmental isolates, which include a novel type.

For more from this ECR, please check out their profile.


May 2024

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Anique Ahmad, a PhD student, and his paper “Falcon gut microbiota is shaped by diet and enriched in Salmonella."

Dr. Ahmad's paper reveals the crucial role of diet and evolutionary history in shaping the gut microbiota of falcons, revealing significant health implications and the need for pathogen screening in these birds.

For more from this ECR, please check out their LinkedIn profile.


April 2024

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Alexander T. Tveit, a UiT The Arctic University of Norway Assistant Professor, and his paper "Thermal acclimation of methanotrophs from the genus Methylobacter"

Dr. Tveit's paper reveals that thermal acclimation involves transcriptional adjustments in the Methylobacter genus, significantly influencing environmental methane uptake rates.

For more from this ECR, please check out their laboratory’s website


March 2024

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Michaela Blyton, a postdoctoral fellow, and her paper "The koala gut microbiome is largely unaffected by host translocation but rather influences host diet"


February 2024

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Mara Sagua, a CIT NOBA PhD student, and her paper “Unraveling the effect of land use on the bacterioplankton community composition from highly impacted shallow lakes at a regional scale.

Mara Sagua investigates how land use and environmental changes influence bacterioplankton communities in shallow lakes of the Salado River basin in Argentina, revealing that the presence of the herbicide atrazine significantly affect the composition and structure of these crucial microbial communities.

For more from this ECR, please check out their ResearchGate profile.
 

January 2024

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Molly A. Moynihan, a postdoctoral researcher at MBL, USA, and her paper “Coral-associated nitrogen fixation rates and diazotrophic diversity on a nutrient-replete equatorial reef.

Dr. Moynihan investigates the role of diazotrophs in coral nitrogen cycling.

For more from this ECR, please check out their Google Scholar.


December 2023  

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Santiago Ramírez Barahona, an Assistant Professor of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Mexico, and his paper “Host phylogeny and environment shape the diversity of salamander skin bacterial communities.

Dr. Ramírez Barahona investigates the influence of host phylogeny, habitat, and climate on the diversity and structure of salamander skin bacterial communities.

For more from this ECR, please check out their Google Scholar.


November 2023  

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Talisa Doering, a University of Melbourne PhD student, and her paper “Genomic exploration of coral-associated bacteria: identifying probiotic candidates to increase coral bleaching resilience in Galaxea fascicularis.”

Doering’s genomic analysis of bacteria associated with the coral Galaxea fascicularis reveals potential probiotics that could boost coral resilience to bleaching and climate challenges.

For more from this ECR, please check out their Google Scholar.
 

October 2023 - 2 

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Kensuke Seto, and his paper "A combined microscopy and single-cell sequencing approach reveals the ecology, morphology, and phylogeny of uncultured lineages of zoosporic fungi."

Dr. Seto’s employed single-cell DNA sequencing to explore undiscovered diversity of early diverging fungi, revealing unknown parasitic taxa and their ecological roles and morphology.

To read more from the EC researcher, please check out their website.
 

October 2023 - 1

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Choaro D. Dithugoe, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and his paper "Bacteria and Archaea Regulate Particulate Organic Matter Export in Suspended and Sinking Marine Particle Fractions."

Dr. Dithugoe’s paper provides insight into the genomic potential of microbes associated with suspended and sinking particles and their role in regulating organic carbon/nitrogen export in the Southern Ocean.

To read more from the EC researcher, please check out their Google Scholar page.


September 2023

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Leïla Ezzat, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montpellier, France, and her paper "Benthic Biofilms in Glacier-Fed Streams from Scandinavia to the Himalayas Host Distinct Bacterial Communities Compared with the Streamwater."

Dr. Ezzat’s paper revealed that even in the high vertical mixing glacier-fed streams, the benthic microbial community is unique.

To read more from the EC researcher, please check out their website.
 

August 2023

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Steffen Buessecker, a postdoctoral researcher at Standford Doerr School of Sustainability, United States, and his paper “Mcr-dependent methanogenesis in Archaeoglobaceae enriched from a terrestrial hot spring.”

Dr. Buessecker’s recent paper confirms that the Mcr-dependent methanogenesis is functional in divergent Mcr/Acr complexes found in Archaeoglobaceae.

To read more from the EC researcher, please check out their website.


July 2023

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Ana Gutierrez, a postdoctoral researcher at the University Paris-Saclay, France and her paper “Metagenome-derived virus-microbe ratios across ecosystems.”

Dr. Gutierrez’s recent paper reveals virus-microbe ratios are lower than we once expected, with viruses outnumbering cells by only 1-3x in most ecosystems. The key findings of the paper are shown this image

To read more from the Early Career researcher, please check out their website.


June 2023

The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Dinka Mandakovic Seyler, an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Mayor Chile, and her paper "Testing the stress gradient hypothesis in soil bacterial communities associated with vegetation belts in the Andean Atacama Desert."

Dr. Mandakovic Seyler’s recent paper reveals how soil bacteria adapt to different stress levels. The key findings of the paper are shown this image

If you’re interested in reading more from the EC researcher, please check out their Google Scholar.

 

May 2023



The ISME ECSC is spotlighting Nikhil George, a PhD student at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and their paper “CRISPR-resolved virus-host interactions in a municipal landfill include non-specific viruses, hyper-targeted viral populations, and interviral conflicts.”

N. George’s recent paper explores virus-host interactions in a municipal landfill over two years. The key findings of the paper are shown in this image

If you’re interested in learning more about this Early Career researcher, please check out their LinkedIn.