Research Interests: My current research focuses on major unsolved questions in microbial ecology: What is the diversity and distribution of microbial lineages in the Human Microbiome? How are microbes adapted (physiological, genomic) to the Human Microbiome? How are micro organisms linked to their chemical environment? We address the very same questions  in studies of microbial communities in the oceans and in the deep subsurface. The only difference between these systems are the field sites! Most relevant to the University of Chicago, we collaborate with Eugene Chang and Murat Eren on genomic-based studies that seek to understand the influence of microbial populations in the progression of ulcerative colitis.