Research
microbial traits, interactions, and ecosystem function
In every drop of seawater or gram of soil lies an immense reservoir of genetic information and chemical possibility. Our work asks how that hidden diversity powers the microbial engines of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles.
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.
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What processes generate and maintain microbial diversity?
01
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 theme →02
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 theme →03
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 theme →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.
environmental sampling
We work across marine sediments, soils, host-associated systems, and experimental testbeds to examine microbial communities in environmental context.
Explore approach →paired omics
We integrate metagenomics, comparative genomics, metabolomics, and geochemistry to link genes, molecules, organisms, and processes.
Explore approach →ecological inference
We use ecological and evolutionary frameworks to test how traits, dispersal, selection, and environmental filtering structure microbial communities.
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