Liisa Veerus, DPhil

Dr. Liisa Veerus is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Martin Blaser, studying the associations between the microbiome and health. She received a DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford, where she investigated the reproductive tract microbiota of the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) and its potential connection to host evolutionary ecology in the lab of Dr. Tommaso Pizzari. She earned a BSc in Biology from Imperial College London, researching bacterial invasion ecology in the lab of Dr. Thomas Bell, and completed an exchange year in France, where she studied fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) reproductive behavior in the lab of Dr. Frédéric Mery. Liisa’s research focuses on understanding the interplay between the host and its microbiome, particularly in the context of reproduction, by utilizing both laboratory and computational microbiome research tools. 

Liisa was a National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) IMPACT Fellow (2022–2023) and has served as the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Ambassador for New Jersey since 2024. She is also actively engaged in science communication and outreach.