Michelle Jungbluth, PhD

Dr. Michelle Jungbluth investigates how marine organisms, from microbes to larger invertebrates, interact within ocean and coastal ecosystems to form complex food webs. She applies molecular tools such as DNA sequencing and eDNA metabarcoding to characterize biodiversity and reveal ecological connections that are not easily observed through traditional methods. Her research focuses on how these biological communities respond to environmental variability and stress, improving our understanding of ecosystem resilience and change in estuarine and coastal systems. She is also interested in leveraging advances in molecular biology to address applied environmental challenges, including pollution mitigation and habitat restoration. Her expertise integrates marine ecology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics, combining field-based sampling with laboratory and computational approaches to study biodiversity and ecosystem function.