Florent Mazel awarded an SNSF Starting Grant

We are thrilled to announce that our NCCR Microbiomes colleague Florent Mazel has been awarded an SNSF Starting Grant for his project “Evolution of the gut microbiota.” Starting Grants are one of the SNSF’s highest levels of career funding. By awarding Florent the grant, the SNSF recognizes that he has already independently contributed to high-impact research in the field of microbial ecology and evolution and supports him in starting his own research group.  

Through this project, Dr. Mazel aims to explore how host-associated gut microbiomes assemble and evolve. In particular, he will investigate how quickly and to what extent the gut microbiome changes, and if they might have co-evolved with their host. To approach these questions, he will use genomics analyses to measure micro-biodiversity in the natural environment and in controlled laboratory experiments.  

Dr. Mazel has been an NCCR member since summer 2023. With his expertise in evolutionary biology and ecology, community analysis, and statistics, Dr. Mazel has supported NCCR members with experimental design and biostatistics. In particular, he has supported the NCCR’s Flagship Projects in their plans to conduct comparative analysis of host-associated microbiomes across multiple host and microbial systems. We hope that, however he chooses to build his career, Florent will stay associated with the NCCR. 

The NCCR Microbiomes is delighted to see Dr. Mazel’s talent and hard work recognised by this award. Our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for the future, Florent!