For the previous five years he was Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Southern Illinois University. His main research interest is geomicrobiology applied to environmental problems. He has given more than 60 invited presentations at international meetings. He has authored more than 60 peer reviewed articles including 3 in Nature. He is on the editorial board for the journals Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, and Geomicrobiology Journal.