My scientific research focused on unravelling the mechanisms of plant-microbe interactions with a particular emphasis on the effect of drivers of global change such as land use intensity, climate change, as well as plant species identity and genetic diversity on the plant associated and rhizosphere soil microbiomes. My group employs multiple meta-barcoding approaches using different next generation sequencing platforms to assess microbial diversity coupled with the use of comparative metagenomics and metatranscriptomics in the frame of interdisciplinary and integrated research projects to link structural and functional diversity, and disentangle below ground inter- and intra-kingdom microbial interaction networks and processes in different soil microbial hotspots.