Microbiomes of the built environment is an emergent field comprised of interacting microbial populations and chemical-physical properties of the environment found in human constructed environments. Advances in molecular methods and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies enable massively parallel analysis of genomic information from these microbiomes. This new information can be used to optimize current monitoring plans and ultimately helps to safeguard drinking water and human health.
Current and past research projects focus in the area of microbial ecology, including the application of genomic technologies and the use of computational and bioinformatics workflow platforms for the characterization of microbial communities. He has several publications in drinking water systems, including the characterization of biofilms and antibiotic resistance genes using metagenomes.