RESEARCH

microbial traits, interactions, and ecosystem function

The Chase Lab studies how microbial genetic diversity, specialized metabolism, and environmental context shape community assembly, biogeochemical function, and natural product diversity across environmental and engineered microbiomes.

Our research connects microbial ecology, evolution, chemical ecology, and Earth-system science to understand how microbiomes are structured and why they matter for environmental function.

Explore detailed research themes

Photo: Scientific American

RESEARCH THEMES

What processes generate and maintain microbial diversity?​

microbial eco-evolutionary dynamics

We study how microbial populations diversify across environmental gradients, with emphasis on fine-scale genetic diversity, population structure, recombination, gene flow, and functional differentiation. This work asks when genetic variation within microbial lineages maps onto ecological strategies and ecosystem function.

Explore biogeography

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chemical traits and community assembly

Specialized metabolites are often treated as discovery targets, but they are also ecological traits. We study biosynthetic gene clusters, metabolomes, and chemically mediated interactions to understand how microbial chemical traits influence community assembly, competition, coexistence, and spatial patterning.

Explore chemical ecology

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methane, carbon cycling, and environmental change

We study how microbial communities respond to methane exposure, oxygen gradients, disturbance, and changing geochemical conditions. This work links microbial community dynamics to carbon transformation, methane oxidation, and biogeochemical function in soils and sediments.

Explore environ. science

RESEARCH APPROACHES

field systems, molecular data, and ecological theory

We combine field observations, experimental systems, molecular measurements, and computational analyses to connect microbial traits to ecological and biogeochemical outcomes

01

environmental sampling

We work across marine sediments, soils, host-associated systems, and experimental testbeds to examine microbial communities in environmental context

02

paired omics

We integrate metagenomics, comparative genomics, metabolomics, and geochemistry to link genes, molecules, organisms, and processes.

03

ecological inference

We use ecological and evolutionary frameworks to test how traits, dispersal, selection, and environmental filtering structure microbial communities.