Corinna Breusing

Corinna Breusing is a Marine Research Associate IV at the Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) at the University of Rhode Island. She specializes in the evolutionary ecology of animal-microbe symbioses in extreme deep-sea environments such as hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Her work combines field research, genomics, and bioinformatics to explore symbiont-host interactions and microbial adaptations.

Her research focuses on three key areas: (1) deep-sea symbioses, including population genomics of vent organisms, (2) evolutionary biology of chemosynthetic organisms, and (3) bioinformatics applications to study microbial communities. Collaborations include the Schwartz Lab at URI, the Girguis Lab at Harvard, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Breusing holds a Ph.D. (2016) and M.Sc. (2012) from Kiel University/GEOMAR, and a B.Sc. (2010) from Kiel University. Her current projects include studies on microbial communities in oceanic trenches (with the D’Hondt Lab) and the genetic basis of symbiont transmission in deep-sea snails.

Her recent work highlights geographic influences on symbiont population structures and horizontal transmission mechanisms enabling symbiont flexibility. She also investigates host-symbiont coevolution and environmental stress responses in vent ecosystems.