Affiliation: University of Melbourne, School of Biosciences

Dr. Justin Maire is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Melbourne with Prof Madeleine van Oppen. He obtained his PhD in 2018 from Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, France, on symbiotic interactions between insects and bacteria and their impact on host immunity and development. In 2019, he moved to the University of Melbourne, where his research is focused on coral-bacteria associations. He specifically focuses on closely associated symbionts, e.g., intracellular, vertically transmitted symbionts, and their potential use as bacterial probiotics and microbiome engineering as an approach for the mitigation of coral bleaching and coral reef conservation. This includes characterizing the taxonomy, localization, and functions of symbionts of interest. His technical expertise includes molecular biology, fluorescence and electron microscopy, microbiology, and analysis of sequencing data.