Exploring Microbial Communities in Water, Soil, and Plants
The Gillor lab has a broad set of research interests ranging from plants endophytes' role in metabolites production to the microbial aspects of soil dynamics in arid environments. We are particularly interested in understanding the role of perturbations like rain, irrigation, pollution, or mining on the soil microbial composition, structure, and function. What unites this disparate set of topics is the use of molecular methods to study the processes and patterns that control microbial interactions from the most complex habitat, the soil, to a simplified laboratory model system.
Our current work focuses on the effect of soil disturbances on trophic interactions within the microbial community as well as endophytes' role in enhancing plants' stress tolerance in desert environments. We are also studying vitamin B12 production in a novel food source, the duckweed.
