RESEARCH GROUP
Division of Microbial Ecology
Updated: March 2026
Contact
Group members
- Stefan Bertilsson
- Jennifer Anderson
- Rafael Augusto
- Claudia Bergin
- Ana Cekol
- Lauren Davies
- Zahra Goodarzi
- Vesna Grujcic
- Charlotta Hagstrom
- Jay Hakansson
- Maliheh Mehrshad
- Nhat Ton Nguyen
- Malin Olofsson
- Ricardo Parizotto Ribeiro
- Fernando Puente Sanchez
- Bella Safitri
- Manuela Seehauser
- Attila Szabo
- Anna Szekely
- Javier Vargas
- Ziming Wang
- Mate Vass
- Ingrid Rydhammer Asp
- Sofia M Larsson
- Sarah Coker
- Anna Sofia Persson
- Moritz Buck
- Mia Bengtsson
- Mariana Kluge
- Theresa Lumpi
- Vinicius Silva Kavagutti
- Fanny Persson
- Filip Petrini
- Klas Udekwu
- Polina Vaulina
- Olga Borowska
Related research projects
- ARAMIS - Adaptive Radiation of Aquatic MIcrobial Species
- Dispersal barriers and functional convergence in aquatic microorganisms
- Causes and consequences of prokaryotic intra-species diversification at the global scale
- BIOFUN: Climate-induced changes in the biodiversity and function of Arctic/alpine streams and their landscapes
- Beyond "Everywhere": Disentangling Dispersal Constraints of Aquatic Planktonic Diversity
- Toxicity of filamentous cyanobacteria in a warmer climate and their effect on zooplankton
- AlgTox: competence center for algal toxin
- Climate adaptation and mapping of algal toxins associated to mussel farms
- Revealing population traits of locally adapted filamentous cyanobacteria – using multiomics
- Do the cyanobacteria perform nitrogen fixation in the Bothnian Sea?
- Live monitoring of mussel farms in the Baltic Sea – to predict toxin production and minimize negative environmental impact
- Microbiome monitoring for risk assessment in recirculating aquaculture systems
- DISCOMIX: Dissemination of antimicrobial resistance by community mixing events
- Fish farming in the North
At the Division of Microbial Ecology we study ecology and diversity of microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems.
We share a passion for understanding the diversity, metabolism, and ecology of microbial ecosystem engineers. The group use methods such as environmental genomics, biogeochemical assays for field studies and experiments to address an array of interlinked questions on functional ecology, diversity, and microbial evolution. Our focus is on aquatic ecosystems, but the research also covers bacteria, archaea, microeukaryotes, and viruses in a wide range of ecosystems.
Division members
Principal investigators:
- Assoc. Prof. Anna Szekely, Researcher, Head of Division
- Dr. Attila Szabo, Researcher
- Assoc. Dr. Fernando Puente Sanchez, Researcher
- Assoc. Prof. Jennifer Anderson, Researcher
- Assoc. Prof. Maliheh Mehrshad, University Lecturer
- Assoc. Prof. Malin Olofsson, Researcher
- Dr. Máté Vass, Researcher
- Prof. Stefan Bertilsson, University Professor
Researchers, postdocs, environmental assessment specialists
- Dr. Klas Udekwu, Researcher
- Dr. Mariana Kluge, Researcher
- Dr. Moritz Buck, Researcher
- Dr. Sofia Persson, Researcher
- Dr. Theresa Lumpi, Environmental Assessment Specialist
- Dr. Vesna Grujcic, Researcher
- Dr. Vinicius Silva Kavagutti, Researcher
- Dr. Ziming Wang, Postdoctoral Researcher
Technical staff
- Ana Cekol, Laboratory Assistant
- Dr. Claudia Bergin, Research Engineer
- Fanny Persson, Research Assistant
- Filip Petrini, Research Assistant
- Ingrid Rydhammer Asp, Research Assistant
- Dr. Javier Vargas, Research Engineer
- Rafael Augusto, Research Assistant
- Dr. Sarah Coker, ‘Mighty’, Research Engineer
PhD students
- Bella Safitri
- Charlotta Hagström
- Lauren Davies
- Jay Hakansson
- Manuela Seehauser
- Merjan Koşucu
- Nhat Ton Nguyen
- Rafael Augusto
- Ricardo Parizotto Ribeiro
- Sofia M Larsson
- Zahra Goodarzi
Students, guests and interns
- Alma Sandqvist, BSc student
- Bent Cottyn, BSc student
- Johanna Wennberg, BSc student
- Dr. Katarzyna Zaremba Niedzwiedzka, Research Intern
- María García Toledo, Guest PhD student
- Dr. Mia Bengtsson, August T Larsson Guest Researcher
- Rebecca Poms, MSc student
- Olga Borowska, MSc student
- Polina Vaulina, MSc student
Alumni
- Ailin Rasaie, Guest PhD student 2025
- Konstantinos Kleidonaris, Research Intern 2025
- Mahwash Jamy, Postdoctoral Researcher 2022-2025
- Mariana Kluge, Postdoctoral Researcher 2022-2025