Isabel Ferrera

I am a microbial ecologist interested in understanding the diversity and function of microorganisms and the processes they carry out in different systems, from laboratory models to the natural environment. I completed a PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona working on the characterization of complex sulfide-oxidizing biofilms. Later, I joined an outstanding laboratory in the field of microbial ecology at Portland State University (USA) where I spent over 3 years working on the diversity and phylogeny of the Aquificales, an order of thermophilic Bacteria. In the last years, I have focused on the study of microbial biodiversity in marine systems in general, and particularly in the role of marine photoheterotrophs in ecosystem functioning while working at the Marine Sciences Institute in Barcelona as part of the Ecology of Marine Microbes and the Coastal Biological Processes Research Groups. Recently, I started a permanent position at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Málaga (Spain) where I focus on studying bacterioplankton communities of the Alboran Sea.