Dr. Patricia Sanchez Baracaldo

Biography

Professor Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo is a leading researcher in the field of phylogenomics and microbiology at the University of Bristol. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Los Andes in Bogota and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Her current research focuses on investigating cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, and their significant role in global nutrient cycles, particularly during geological time. Through her lab, she aims to uncover how these organisms contributed to making the early Earth increasingly habitable. In particular, she studies the evolution of marine planktonic cyanobacteria and their origins, which appear to be linked to major disruptions in Earth's nutrient cycles associated with extreme glaciation events. Patricia is actively involved in projects aimed at understanding horizontal gene transfer in cyanobacteria, which has implications for the rise of modern atmospheric oxygen. Her lab is also engaged in sequencing the genomes of cold-adapted cyanobacteria from polar environments, further shedding light on their ecological contributions in both past and present contexts.

Research Interests

Experience