Meet the people who make up STEM Faculty.
I am a Senior lecturer in Microbiology within EEES and AstrobiologyOU. My research involves investigating the diversity and activity of microbial communities inhabiting extreme environments and simulated martian environments to build our understanding of habitability and the metabolisms that fuel growth and survival at the limits of Life. I am also interested in exploring these extremophiles to develop societal benefits, employing their unique metabolisms to combat pollution, climate change, and antimicrobial resistance. My PhD at the University of East Anglia involved characterising the impact of plant growth on trace gas metabolising microbes in the soil environment, with a focus on C1-metabolising microbes and stable isotope probing to identify the active organisms.
2023- Current Lecturer, School of Environment, School of Earth and Ecosystem Science - Open University
2021-Current Associate Lecturer, School of Environment, School of Earth and Ecosystem Science - Open University
2017-2023 Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Environment, School of Earth and Ecosystem Science - Open University
2013-2017 PhD Environmental Microbiology, School of Environmental Sciences - University of East Anglia
2014 Three month Internship at Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences
2012-2013 Erasmus Year University of Aarhus
Project - The genetic diversity of the Verminephrobacter
2009-2013 BSc (Hons) Biology 1st Class University of York
Project - The isolation and characterisation of Rhizobiophages
My current research interest include identifying the limits of life in extreme environments, cleanrooms, and simulated extraterrestrial environments. I am also investigating potential applications of this research through the OU's Open Societal Challenge Scheme. My other interests include evolutionary biology, taxonomy and environmental science.
OSC - Extremophiles Against Antibiotic Resistance EAAR - The vision of this project is to develop a toolkit to identify novel antibiotics in extreme environments to use in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Extreme environments harbour unique microbes, but their remoteness and complexity have resulted in them being overlooked and there is a high-potential for novel chemistries and genes to be abundant in non-standard environments. Working with the Worcestershire council, we have been able to sample from the historic salt brines of Droitwich Spa - using these brine samples we were able to isolate a range of novel salt-adapted microbes. These microbes have been shown to suppress the growth of various hospital associated pathogens, including MSRA, and we are now focussed on identifying the chemistry of the compounds driving this antibacterial activity.
OSC - SPLICE: Sustainable Processes Linked for an Integrated Circular Economy - This Challenge aims to combat environmental contamination and economic losses due to unsustainable waste management by providing full-system solutions to recover, recycle, and generate valuable materials and energy from wastes. The project aims to accelerate societal change towards reimagining wastes as sources of energy and valuable resources. We have been able to identify a range of microbial isolates capable of capturing metals and breaking down dyes from textile wastewater and are currently investigating other potential applications of extremophiles in reducing environmental pollution.
Current Team members:
Dr Benjamin Tatton - PDRA
Dr Mara Leite - Project Officer
Current PhD students:
Velislava Ilieva: The Influence Of Sulfur Cycling On Community Diversity In Hypersaline Mars Analogue Environments (CENTA)
Daniel Loy: Microbial Survival in the Makgadikgadi Basin, Botswana (CENTA)
Previous PhD students:
Anushree Srivastava: Habiltability of saline environments on Mars (OU)
Ermias Balcha: Antibiotics from the Extreme (Addis Ababa Science and Technology University)
Ben Tatton: Understanding the limits of microbial life (Research England)
Previous Summer students:
James Oliver: Exploring potential biosignatures formed by microbes under martian conditions (Applied Microbiology International and EEES)
Velislava Ilieva: Characterisation of cleanroom microbiomes (Microbiology Society)
Yifan Zhu: Methanogenesis in hypersaline environments (AstrobiologyOU and EEES)
Ryan Kingston: Bioremediation of Textile wastewaters (OSC SPLICE)
S111 Questions in science (Module Team Member)
S397 Terrestrial Ecosystem (Associate Lecturer)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
During my time at the Open University I have led and supported expeditions to globally distributed and hypersaline environments. This includes fieldwork to:
The Great Rann of Kachchh with Kachchh University
Pena Hueca with Centro De Astrobiologia
Saharan Salt Flats with the Ibn Battuta Institute
The Makgadigadi Basin with Botswana International University for Science and Technology
Laguna Negra with the Cordoba University
Droitwich Spa salt brines with Worcestershire council
I was an international scientific advisor on the Earth and Space Exploration Program with NASA Blue Marble Institute, Mars Society Australia, and the Amity Centre for Excellence in Astrobiology.
I am a visiting lecturer at Amity University Mumbai and Amity Centre for Excellence in Astrobiology, where I lecture on the microbiology of extreme environments for the Masters in Astrobiology course.
