Luiza Lessa Andrade works as a chemical and biological Technician in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University. Luiza is a microbiologist and has much experience in investigating microbial ecology in a range of environments, including crude oil hydrocarbon biodegradation in estuarine sediments, and in microbial mats from the coast of Abu Dhabi.
As part of the ChAOS project, Luiza will conduct microbial community analysis in sediment samples from the Arctic seafloor. This will focus on using high-throughput sequencing technologies to create microbial community and functional profiles and link these profiles to measure geochemical conditions. The aim of this analysis is to identify microbial community structure and functional changes both spatially (depth, transects) and temporally (over 3 years), in order to assist in creating mathematical models that predict biogeochemical responses to ocean warming in these regions.
