Linda Amaral-Zettler’s research focuses on the relationships between microbes and the mechanisms that determine their diversity, distribution, survival and impact on local and global processes. Her research probes how microbe/environment interactions respond to natural and anthropogenic changes and the impact of microbes on ecosystems and biogeochemical processes, including pathogenicity and transformation of human pollutants. Her on-going research themes include: Microbial community assembly and function, The role of microbes as sentinels of change in the environment, Biodiversity and biogeography across the domains of life, The ecology of molecular biomarker producers, andMicrobiomes, biofilms, and the "Plastisphere".

As professor by special appointment, Amaral-Zettler will carry out research spanning scales from freshwater and local coastal environments to global comparisons across marine ecosystems. Serving as a link between the complementary expertise and resources at both NIOZ and IBED, the chair she holds will facilitate collaborative research on aquatic microbial ecology at the highest international level. Her University roles will include: introductory lectures in the Biology bachelor program; advanced lectures, supervisor and examiner roles of ‘Freshwater & Marine Biology’ MSc research projects; and, mentorship and promotion of PhD students in Marine Microbiology.

About Linda Amaral-Zettler

Amaral-Zettler is a senior scientist at the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University. A Brown University (Providence, RI) alumna (BSc. Aquatic Biology, 1990), she was affiliated with the Brown-MBL Graduate Program from 2005-2017, and now holds an adjunct faculty position at Brown's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. She obtained her PhD in Biological Oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program and maintains ties to Woods Hole through anMBL Fellow appointment at the Marine Biological Laboratory's Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution where she was based for the last 20 years.

Amaral-Zettler is the recipient of various grants and awards, including a LUSO-American Foundation Award, a Portugal Fulbright Scholar Fellowship, and a Census of Marine Life Outstanding Achievement Award for Data, Knowledge and Visualization for aiding in the management of the US-Dutch collaborative International Census of Marine Microbes Program (2004-2010).

Amaral-Zettler has published extensively in leading international peer-reviewed journals, including PNAS, Nature, The ISME Journal, Environmental Science and Technology and other top journals in microbial ecology.