Johanna Winder

Johanna Winder is an Associate Tutor in the Faculty of Science at the University of East Anglia and a PhD candidate in the School of Environmental Sciences. She holds a BA (Hons) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge (2020) and an MSc by Research in Industrial Microbiology from the University of Exeter (2021). Her research focuses on environmental microbiology, particularly the evolution and diversity of microbial ice-binding proteins, and their roles in cold-adapted organisms. She has conducted fieldwork in northwestern Canada studying permafrost thaw impacts and collaborates with the Exeter Microbial Biofuels Group.

Research interests include microbial adaptations to extreme environments, Arctic Ocean microbiology, and climate-driven changes in microbial communities. She presented her work on diatom ice-binding proteins at the British Phycological Society Winter Meeting 2023, earning the BPS Student Poster Prize.

• PhD Supervisor: Professor Cock van Oosterhout
• Research Groups: Environmental Biology (UEA), Exeter Microbial Biofuels Group

Her publications span topics like ice-binding protein diversity, methylmercury dynamics in permafrost regions, and biomass conversion via electrofermentation. She actively collaborates on projects analyzing microbial responses to climate change in Arctic and boreal ecosystems.