Dr Valentina Hurtado-McCormick

Valentina's research

Valentina is a marine microbial ecologist. Her research focuses on understanding the relationships between macroorganisms and the microbial communities associated with them (their microbiome).

Valentina has been studying the seagrass microbiome for over five years, while combining extensive field work and lab work experience with the application of bioinformatic and statistical approaches for the processing and analysis of sequencing and habitat-feature data. Her research interests are in the microbiomes of natural ecosystems, particularly those influencing our ocean’s health. She is intrigued by microbial communities’ dynamics at different spatial and temporal scales, and very passionate about their relationship with pathogenic diseases.

Valentina’s research at Deakin’s Blue Carbon Lab explores microbial dynamics in vegetated coastal ecosystems (mangroves, seagrass meadows, and tidal marshes). By characterising the microbial communities associated with recalcitrant forms of blue carbon, Valentina will lead the first high-throughput sequencing data mining of microbial diversity and functional potential to find ecological drivers and microbial indicators within these communities. Moreover, she will investigate the concept of microbial dormancy within the context of blue carbon ecosystems.