Engage your Audience! 2017 - Noushin Hadadi (Switzerland)
Channel: FEMS Microbiology
Date: 2017-08-10

This is Noushin Hadadi's application video for the Engage your Audience! 2017 contest, which she participated in during FEMS 2017. 

As a computational biologist, I develop computational tools and predictive models to make sense of huge amount of data being rapidly produced thanks to recent advances in omics technologies.
I am amazed and inspired by the great metabolic capacity of microorganisms; harnessing this natural capacity and transforming it to practical capabilities is what I have practiced through diverse range of academic and industry projects during my PhD and post-doc research. Currently, I investigate another amazing feature of microbes: their secret lives in microbial communities, their positive interactions and competitions, and the emergent properties of such complex system. 
Genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) proved valuable in understanding the metabolic capabilities of several microbes. They serve as platforms to integrate context specific data (i.e., omics) and allow for better understanding of genotype-phenotype relationships. Toward genome-scale modelling for soil microbial communities, we developed the first genome scale model of Pseudomonas veronii, a motile bacterium capable of degrading a variety of aromatic hydrocarbons. We demonstrated how this model can serve as a platform for predicting cellular responses to environmental or genetic perturbations. This model can be used as a starting point for developing a representative model for soil microbial community.