Teresa Peil will study how nutrients in coastal environments affect microbes
Teresa Peil is new doctoral student at the Department of Marine Sciences and member of the Marine Microbial Ecology (MMEco) group. Her PhD focuses on how microbial communities contribute to the turnover of dissolved organic matter in the oceans and how this is affected by nutrient and trace metal stoichiometry. In her spare time she likes to solo hike, and she loves going to the science fiction bookstore.
What will you be working on here?
"Nutrients, along with temperature, are a major environmental driver and are predicted to change in concentration and stoichiometry (meaning the ratio between two or mor substances that undergo physical or chemical change) in highly productive coastal environments. "
"My project aims to understand how these changes affect microbes, how they interact with each other, and how this affects the ocean's carbon balance. I have isolated bacteria and fungi from seawater samples collected off the west coast of Sweden. After characterization, these isolates will serve as model organisms for co-culture experiments. In these experiments, I will investigate how varying concentrations of nutrients and trace metals affect the growth of these microorganisms on different types of organic matter."
What did you do before?
" I did my Bachelor’s degree in general biology but quickly realized that anything that has more than one cell is not really for me. I specialized in microbiology and tried out different fields within it, like medical microbiology, biotechnology and environmental microbiology. I then did my Master’s degree in marine biology where I finalized my interests and ended up with marine microbiology. I loved the idea of being out at sea and looking at the open water, taking a sample and then going back to the lab to zoom in on the tiniest of organisms within it."
What do you do when you are not working?
"I have recently done my first solo hike and am currently gathering lots of ultra cool camping gear. Apart from being outside, swimming in cold water and making fires, I like having non-fancy dinners and Dungeons & Dragons sessions with friends. Oh, and I love going to the science fiction bookstore."
Anything else you would like to share?
"One of my dreams is to see a whale and puffin in real life. I hope I get to experience both throughout my PhD."
