Welcome to my website!

I am Carolina A. Martinez-Gutierrez, an evolutionary biologist deeply interested in the origins and evolution of the microbes that have shaped and continue shaping our planet. I am amazed by microbes due to their large diversity, abundance, and impacts on the functioning of virtually all ecosystems on Earth.
To study the evolution of microbes, I use large datasets of genomes as well as computational methods like phylogenomics, and programming languages like Python. My goal is to disentangle the evolutionary trends hidden in the DNA of bacteria and archaea. I did my PhD at Virginia Tech with Prof. Frank Aylward, where I investigated the evolutionary genomics of abundant marine microbial clades.
Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University in the group of Prof. Louis-Marie Bobay. My postdoc is focused on understanding how homologous recombination trends can help us identify biological species in key marine microbes.
To study the evolution of microbes, I use large datasets of genomes as well as computational methods like phylogenomics, and programming languages like Python. My goal is to disentangle the evolutionary trends hidden in the DNA of bacteria and archaea. I did my PhD at Virginia Tech with Prof. Frank Aylward, where I investigated the evolutionary genomics of abundant marine microbial clades.
Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University in the group of Prof. Louis-Marie Bobay. My postdoc is focused on understanding how homologous recombination trends can help us identify biological species in key marine microbes.
ELME Lab @ UCSB

I will be joining the Earth Science Department at University of California Santa Barbara as an Assistant Professor in July, 2024. The Early Life and Microbial Evolution Lab will be broadly focused on understanding the origins and the evolution of the microbes that have shaped and continue shaping our planet.
I will be recruiting a postdoc/technician in 2024 and graduate students to start the program in 2025. Feel free to contact me at cmartinezg@ucsb.edu if you would like to be part of my group in beautiful Santa Barbara!
I will be recruiting a postdoc/technician in 2024 and graduate students to start the program in 2025. Feel free to contact me at cmartinezg@ucsb.edu if you would like to be part of my group in beautiful Santa Barbara!