معرفی
Xin Sun is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, affiliated with the Department of Biology within the School of Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on environmental microbiology and biogeochemistry, particularly microbial-driven nitrogen and carbon cycles in marine and coastal ecosystems. He integrates field studies, metagenomics, experimental ecology, and modeling to predict microbial community dynamics under environmental change.
Education includes a Ph.D. from Princeton University, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University (Hutchinson Fellow) and the Carnegie Institution for Science (Simons Fellow, Stanford campus). His lab emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, including synthetic ecology experiments and mechanistic modeling to understand microbial diversity and biogeochemical processes in oxygen-deficient zones and open oceans.
Research interests span microbial community assembly, nitrogen cycling kinetics, and the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. The lab actively collaborates with researchers globally and focuses on coastal/open-ocean ecosystems. Outreach efforts include promoting diversity in STEM through initiatives like the Princeton Women in Geosciences (PWiGS) and anti-racism workshops in geoscience.
Key projects include exploring metabolic trade-offs in microbes, identifying missing biogeochemical kinetics, and investigating microbial diversity rules. The lab utilizes tools like metagenomics, biogeochemical experiments, and ecological theories to address these questions.
