Julia Engelmann

Early in my career as a biologist, I discovered the beauty and the strength of mathematics as a tool for better understanding life. I study interactions between marine microorganisms, with a focus on the North Sea and the Wadden Sea. In time consuming experiments I allow a certain volume of seawater to pass through a filter that retains the smallest particles. With the DNA extracted from those particles I examine which species are represented. Comparing a large number of samples from a certain area, I can find that species A always occurs with species B, for example, or that species C struggles more if species D is present. With this approach, I can calculate which species could be interacting.