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Marike Palmer

Primary Investigator

Marike completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, under the primary guidance of Fanus Venter and Emma Steenkamp. This was followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pretoria, and a postdoctoral scholar appointment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA, in the research group of Brian Hedlund.

Her research focuses on biodiversity exploration and integrating -omics data into microbial systematics. Her scholarly research outputs pivot on utilizing modern approaches in microbial taxonomy, documenting and utilizing biological novelty to expand the known breadth of microbial diversity, and understanding evolutionary drivers generating that diversity.

Current Lab Members

Ayush Sharma

Lab Technician

Aman Verma

MSc Student

Aman's research focuses on establishing robust taxonomies for underexplored bacterial lineages through phylogenomic analyses and genome-based classification.

Anmol Bharti

MSc Student

Anmol's research utilizes long-read metagenomics to investigate intra- and inter-population genetic heterogeneity and speciation processes in bacteria.

Ben Kilbrei

MSc Student

Ben's research explores the microbial diversity of saline springs in Manitoba. With this work representing the first modern molecular data from these springs, they remain severely underexplored.

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Kaveesha Rangana Vitana

MSc Student

Kaveesha's research focuses on characterizing novel halophilic bacteria that are putative biosurfactant- and polyhydroxyalkanoate-producers and the products they produce.

Nathaniel Poitras

BSc Hon Project Student