How do microbial interactions shape the biosignatures preserved in natural environments? Through the NCCR GENESIS, we investigate the hidden biological controls—including virus–host interactions, microbial cooperation, competition, and community organization—that regulate microbial metabolism and influence biosignature production. Our research combines field campaigns in euxinic lakes, modern analogs of Earth's ancient oceans, with controlled laboratory experiments, geochemical analyses, microbiology, and quantitative approaches from statistical biophysics. In collaboration with EPFL (Prof. Paolo De Los Rios) and SUPSI (Prof. Nicola Storelli), we aim to develop a predictive framework that identifies the ecological processes governing biosignature formation, with a particular focus on photosynthetic microorganisms. By integrating ecology, geochemistry, and theory, this project advances our ability to interpret biosignatures on Earth and strengthens strategies for detecting life on other planets.

Science and art share a common goal: making the invisible visible. In collaboration with La Grange and the artistic team led by Marion and David, we are co-developing a multidisciplinary performance inspired by microbialites—layered structures built by microbial communities that preserve some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth. By translating microbial processes, geological timescales, and biosignature formation into movement, choreography, and visual storytelling, this collaboration creates new ways for audiences to engage with the science of life's origins and the hidden microbial world that continues to shape our planet.

In collaboration with the Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, led by Professor Pietro de Anna, we investigate how microscale oxygen gradients shape microbial interactions under anoxic conditions. Using innovative microfluidic platforms, we recreate environmentally relevant oxygen distributions to examine how sulfate-reducing and sulfide-oxidizing bacteria organize into spatially structured aggregates. By linking fluid transport, chemical gradients, and microbial ecology, this collaboration provides new insights into the physical mechanisms governing microbial community assembly and the emergence of biosignatures at the microscale.