Sonja Lehtinen – Principal Investigator
I am interested in understanding bacterial ecology and evolution in the context of public health, and in using mathematical and statistical modelling to draw insights from complex data. My PhD was in computational cell biology, but now I would call myself an infectious disease modeller. I also like public engagement and outreach, and chats about the philosophy of science.
Ekaterine Kikodze – PhD Student
As a PhD student in the EE group, I am investigating the evolution of plasmids in bacterial hosts. More specifically, I am interested in how plasmid co-infection affects plasmid dynamics, and why do certain genes end up on plasmids. To answer these questions, I am using mathematical models in combination with experimental data.
Elliott Greene – PhD Student
I am a doctoral student with a background in microbiology, experimental evolution, and theoretical ecology. Within the EE group, I am using techniques from ecological modeling and bioinformatics to investigate how between strain competition for hosts impacts the evolution of pathogenic bacteria.
Aswin Krishna – PhD Student
I am a PhD student with a background in engineering and ecology. Using data analysis and mathematical modelling, I study the strain dynamics of Streptococcus pneumoniae and the mechanisms that maintain high levels of antigenic diversity in this species. My perspective focuses on the role of within-host strain competition on the maintenance of this diversity. I am also interested in antibiotic resistance and understanding patterns of resistance observed in data. Social media: https://bsky.app/profile/krishnaaswin77.bsky.social
Loïc Marrec – Post-doctoral Fellow
I am a postdoctoral researcher with a background in physics, now working at the intersection of ecology and evolution within the EE group. My research focuses on uncovering the drivers of diversity in microbial communities through a combination of modeling and data analysis. I am also interested in the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance.
Florentin Constancias – Post-doctoral Fellow
I am a postdoctoral scientist with background in bioinformatics and microbiome research. In the EE group, I use bioinformatic tools, longitudinal cohort sampling and publicly available genomic data to study the eco-evolutionary dynamics of opportunistic pathogens.
Martin Guillemet – Post-doctoral Fellow
I am interested in the evolution of microbes, in particular relating to traits involved in interactions with their hosts or other microbes. Such interactions give rise to strong eco-evo feedback which I approach with analytic modelling, numeric simulations, genomic data (and sometimes experiments). In the classroom, I am passionate about teaching to non-specialists, eg. maths/coding to biology students.