Trends in Microbiome and Digital One Health

Dr. Sunil Mundra is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology, United Arab Emirates University. He holds a PhD in Molecular Microbial Ecology from the University of Oslo (UiO, Norway) and has worked at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS, Longyearbyen). During his doctoral studies, he investigated the spatial and temporal patterns in High-Arctic fungi using advanced high-throughput sequencing (HTS) techniques. Currently, he serves as the Principal Investigator of the “Microbial Ecology and Environmental Genomics” lab, which is engaged in cutting-edge research to comprehend the impact of climate and environmental changes on soil-plant-microbial tripartite interactions in diverse environments ranging from forests, polar to arid regions. His research interests are multifaceted and encompass identifying the intricate relationships between microbial diversity and ecosystem or host function. He employs state-of-the-art genomic and multi-omics approaches, including metagenomics analyses, microbial culturing, and machine learning to accomplish these objectives. Furthermore, his research vision extends beyond fundamental research to practical applications that can potentially improve agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability, with a particular focus on the arid environment. He has published more than 50 research papers in leading microbial ecology journals and currently supervising several Master and PhD students at UAEU. Additionally, he has been the recipient of the prestigious Abu Dhabi Young Investigator Award.