We strive to unravel the mechanism underlying the immense diversity of life. How do organisms adapt, differentiate and diversify? How do they shape and are shaped by the communities and ecosystems they occur in?

To do so, we study a wide array of organisms and systems – from exotic viruses to their unicellular eukaryotic hosts, from endophytic fungi to carnivorous plants, and from open-ocean cyanobacteria to coastal soil microbiomes. Our focus lies in understanding processes that drive and accelerate evolution in these systems, such as horizontal gene transfer via mobile genetic elements, viruses or vesicles.

For our research, we harness the power of genomics and big data, leveraging cutting-edge sequencing technologies and devising workflows and software to maximize their use. Moreover, we are developing tools for data exploration, integration and interpretation with a focus on genomics data visualization.

Combining these efforts, we aim to gain new insights into the concert of ecology and evolution that brings forth the wondrous living world around us.