I am Michiel Perneel, trained as an evolutionary biologist (MSc Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity) at Ghent University. During my master I tried to clarify whether anthropogenic sluice systems affected young upstream migrating European eels. For my PhD research I enthusiastically returned to my long-standing fondness off all things genetic. My research resolves around how the use of metatranscriptomics could help in elucidating certain properties of the microeukaryotic plankton community. This state-of-the art approach is very promising in regard to capturing functional diversity, together with taxonomic information. I am especially eager to use this technique to determine how and which biotic and abiotic gradients or species interactions shape communities in the North Sea. From a technical point of view, I am working with Oxford Nanopore long read sequencing, which I will compare and hopefully combine with Illumina RNA-sequencing. Next to plankton, I have always been very passionate about fish in particular and the more abstract aspects of evolution in general. Otherwise, I also love to talk, discuss and read about animal ( including human) sentience and consciousness.

Thesaurus terms: Marine ecology; Population, ecological and evolutionary genetics