The Two Frontiers Project
Initiatives
We study microbial communities across four research programs — from deep-sea volcanic seeps to urban infrastructure — investigating their roles in ecosystem function and their potential applications in agriculture, ecosystem health, and human health.
01
Carbon
Discovering organisms that take carbon-based compounds — like carbon dioxide and methane — and convert them into useful products, across marine volcanic seeps, mountain springs, and extreme environments spanning three continents.
02
Coral
Characterizing, isolating, and engineering the microbial communities of coral reefs to understand and protect them from bleaching.
03
Crops
Finding microbial and other crop treatments that increase tolerance to drought, pests, and other stressful conditions — for agriculture on Earth and in space.
04
Exposome
Building statistical tools to identify the parts of the exposome — microbial and otherwise — that shape human health, and microbial approaches to modulate it, from degrading PFAS to improving gut function.
Work with us
We collaborate with academic labs, conservation NGOs, government agencies, and industry partners across all four initiative areas.