I’m a postdoc at Freie Universität Berlin. My research focuses on bacterial communities in the phyllosphere.

The phyllosphere is the above-ground parts of a plant that represents microbial habitats. Leaves –covering most of the surface area of the phyllosphere– host a number of bacteria that impact on plant productivity and global nutrient cycles, and yet, they interact at very very small scales! I want to understand what services bacteria provide to their host and how they establish communities. I am passionate about species interactions, spatial patterns, and the factors that drive these interactions in a spatially-structured community context.

Recognising bacterial individuality requires to build tools to look at them at scales that matter to them. I’m currently developing plasmids to make bacteria glow and report on different environmental cues.