Hi, I am Ada Behncké Serra and I’m a new doctoral student under Edith Hammer in the SoilChip group that now is under Functional Ecology. I will study how the chemical properties and stability of microbial necromass are affected by the soil pore space characteristics and the death pathway. I will be working with soil chips (silicone-carved microstructures that mimic the soil pore space), Raman microspectroscopy and deep learning tools to follow the life and death of soil microbes at the microscale.
I am an Environmental Biologist with broad interests. I have worked on plant ecophysiology and chemical ecology, molecular approaches to protist ecology, marine chemical ecology, and soil microbial ecology. I am very interested in tiny things, metabolism, and biogeochemistry. I have a thing for anaerobiosis and symbiosis. I’m also very much into science communication and environmental education.
I love learning and trying out new things. I spend most of my free time hiking, reading, or working out, and I have recently started playing the piano. I like arts and crafts, and I am always up for any kind of physical and cultural activity.
