I am a marine microbiologist and population geneticist. Recently, my lab isolated evolutionarily young endosymbiotic marine bacteria that underwent genome-wide changes including insertion sequence expansion and pseudogene proliferation. These are evolutionary genomic hallmarks for a recently shift of the bacteria from free-living and host-dependant lifestyle. We have been developing these endosymbiotic marine bacteria as next-generation marine probiotics to manipulate marine hosts such as corals and oysters. The goal is to promote their health in an increasingly warming and acidified ocean. I am now looking for advanced molecular / cell biology tools to study the interaction between the endosymbiotic bacteria and their hosts.