She carried out her PhD research at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology followed by postdoctoral work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA, and the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona. Her research spans from the physiological basis to the ecosystem level consequences of resource acquisition strategies in microbial eukaryotes and their integration into the microbial interaction networks that drive biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystems. A major focus is on mixotrophic organisms that combine photosynthesis with heterotrophic nutrition by predation on other microbes. This lifestyle is abundant in nature and challenges traditional concepts of microbial food web dynamics and carbon cycling in the ocean.