The microbial world is diverse owing to its 3.7 billion years of evolution, which provides for both the opportunity of undiscovered metabolic capacity, including that for pollutant degradation, and the challenge of detecting and recovering this activity. It is well known that more than 99% of the microbial world has not been cultured and hence remains undiscovered. I am interested in understanding the relationship between the structure of bacterial communities and their function. I am employing the tools of molecular biology, genomics, and genetics to identify the components of bacterial communities, and to study their dynamics, interactions, and organization. Linking the activities of microbes to their genomic content and population structure is a critical step towards manipulating microbial systems for the bioremediation of petroleum-hydrocarbons contaminated soil and water environments.

Current Research Interests:

• Development of plant-microbe phytoremediation systems.

• Microbial diversity and nutrient transformation in the rhizosphere of crops.

• Revealing the rare biosphere

 

Education:

Ph.D. candidate. Environmental Microbiology, University of Montréal, Montréal, Canada (co-supervision with Dr Marc St-Arnaud).

M.Sc. Soil Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.

B.Sc. Soil Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.