Bionomics team
WHO ARE WE?
Meet the Bionomics lab members!
Scroll down to see the full list of students Maliheh has been/is co-supervising or closely collaborating with over time (we believe they are a part of our Bionomics fam!).
Maliheh Mehrshad
Principle Investigator
My overarching research interest is to understand the evolutionary and functional aspects of parasitic interactions among aquatic microbes. This interest stems from my lifelong fascination with how we subconsciously decode the nuance of human interactions, perceive subtle details, and adjust our responses in our daily life. Interactions are one of the most complex and yet least understood aspects of biology. As a microbiologist, I have navigated my career and acquired the skill set needed to study interaction in microbes. I believe that microbial parasitic interactions, due to their defined host range, are a perfect model to find an explanation for the logic underlying the interactions among microbes and define a proper framework for studying interactions in general. My main aim is to develop frameworks and methods allowing us to disentangle multipartite interactions that fit under the umbrella of "parasitic" interactions.
Vinicius S. Kavagutti
Researcher/PostDOC
Vinicius joins Bionomics from May 1st, 2024 as a researcher/PostDoc. He will focus on phages and he will be involved in MULTIPHAGE. He is the first recruitment for MULTIPHAGE and we are excited to build momentum around this project!
Zahra Goodarzi
PhD student
Zahra started her PhD journey on November 21st, 2023. She is going to focus on viruses infecting phytoplankton in aquatic systems in the context of our FORMAS project on parasites of phytoplankton.
Armand Stoe
Internship Student
Armand spent an internship with us as a part of his Master studies. He learned about aquatic microbial ecology and did a great job sampling Malaren every other day for a full months! He was involved in the context of our FORMAS project on parasites of phytoplankton.
Extended Bionomics fam!
Post-Doc co-mentorship
1- Dr. Maryam Rezaei (Linnaeus University, 2022-ongoing) working on metabolic interactions in deep groundwater
2- Dr. Carolina González (Linnaeus University, 2022-ongoing) working on global diversity of deep oligotrophic groundwater community
PhD student co-supervision
1- Petter Madsen M. Sc., Thesis project: “Funky fungi – Diversity and evolutionary adaptations of oil-degrading fungi” – (Stockholm university, ongoing)
2- Krzysztof Jurdzinski M. Sc., Thesis project: Understanding adaptation strategies of aquatic Bacterial communities (KTH, ongoing) Publication
3- Maedeh Yousefzadeh M. Sc., Thesis project: Diversity and adaptation of phages in brackish ecosystems (University of Tehran, ongoing)
4- Dr. Carlotta Meriggi, Thesis project: “Early detection of invasive aquatic microorganisms” –(SLU, defended on 6/14/2023) Publication
5- Dr. Roohollah Kheiri, Thesis project: "Hypersaline Lake Urmia: a potential hotspot for microbial genomic variation" -(University of Teharn, Defended on 9/18/2023) Publication
6- Dr. Maryam Rezaei, Thesis project: “Comparative metagenomics of microbial communities in response to oil spills in the Persian Gulf” (University of Tehran, defended on 8/14/2021) Publication I & Publication II
M. Sc. student co-supervision
1- Rezvan Mahmoudi, University of Tehran, “Assessment of microplastic pollution in the Persian Gulf and searching for plastic degrading enzymes in the Persian Gulf water and sediments metagenome” -ongoing
2- Erfan Khamespanah, University of Tehran, “Identification of potential methioninase enzymes through large-scale screening of Caspian Sea metagenomic data”
3- Ezhilarasan Mani Ezhilan, Uppsala University, “Investigating the transcription profile of Limnohabitans bacteria in response to phage infection” -ongoing
4- Lovisa Lundberg, Uppsala University, “The evolutionary history of phosphorus transporters in arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi”
5- Ziling Deng, KTH, “Phylogenetic Analysis of Aquatic Microbiome, Evolution of the brackish microbiome” Publication
6- Maedeh Yousefzadeh, University of Tehran “Comparative Genomics analyses of viruses infecting microeukaryotes along the depth profile metagenomes of the brackish Caspian Sea”
7- Fatemeh Qasemnejad, University of Tehran “Comparative genomics of oil hydrocarbon degradation potential in representatives of order Oceanospirillales”
8- Zahra Goodarzi, University of Tehran “Exploring the diversity and distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in the Caspian Sea metagenome” Publication
9- Amir Dargahzadeh, University of Tehran “Cloning and characterization of novel computationally annotated arginine deiminase through large-scale screening of metagenomics data”
10- Motahareh Sobat, University of Tehran “Metagenomic in-silico screening and functional validation of L-asparaginases with anti-leukemic effect from the Caspian Sea” Publication
11- Karrar Mahmood shaker, University of Tehran “Morphological diversity of viruses in Sawa Lake, Iraq”
12- Homa Kangarani Farahani, University of Tehran “Biodiversity of aerobic, heterotrophic microorganisms of the Caspian Sea” Publication
Internship student supervision
1- Remco Hoogervorst, Erasmus+ internship, SLU, ”Isolating viruses for phytoplankton host”
2- Maria Elisa Pierfederici, Erasmus+ internship, Uppsala University, ”Analysis of phage-host interaction”
3- Hengameh Habibi Sufi, Bachelor project, University of Tehran, ”Cultivation and enrichment of Thaumarchaeota in the deep strata of the Caspian Sea”
4- Sepideh Fakhr Taha, Bachelor project, University of Tehran, ”Media design and testing for isolating Thaumarchaeota from the Caspian Sea deep strata”
5- Anahid Amani Moghadam, Bachelor project, University of Tehran, ”Dilution to extinction cultivation of halophilic archaea”
6- Elham Ahmadi, Bachelor project, University of Tehran, “Genomics analysis of the type species of 5 halophilic archaeal genera sequenced in collaboration with JGI”
7- Shahrzad Motamedi, Bachelor project, University of Tehran, ”Polyphasic characterization of an archaeon isolate”
8- Siavash Riazi, Bachelor project, University of Tehran, ”Polyphasic characterization of an archaeon isolate” Publication
Collaborations
1- Jonna Kangas M. Sc., PhD thesis project: Plankton-parasite interactions in the Baltic Sea – does salinity impact dynamics between chytrid parasites and their phytoplankton hosts? (University of Turku, ongoing)
2- Dr. Katarina Kajan, collaboration on a project: Stratified microbial community in a cave ecosystem (University of Zagreb, ongoing)
3- Sofia Papadopoulou M. Sc., collaboration on a project: Microbial community of lakes in Jamtland (Uppsala University, ongoing)