Curriculum Vitae
Employment
Since 2023
Postdoctoral researcher, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy
PI: Dr. Gabriele Micali, Microbial Ecology Lab
Education
2016 – 2020
PhD researcher, Friedrich Schiller University Jena & German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany
Dissertation: Testing ecological theories with microbial communities.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Kirsten Küsel, Prof. Dr. W. Stanley Harpole.
2014 – 2015
MRes Ecology, Evolution & Conservation (Merit), Imperial College London, UK
Thesis 1: Variation in behaviour and resistance to fungal endoparasites between closely related clones of the anciently asexual rotifer Adineta vaga.
Thesis 2: Effects and interactions on phenotypic trajectories and metabolic activity of community bacteria.
2010 – 2014
BSc (Hons) Biology (2:1), University of Hull, UK
Team research project in ecology, DNA barcoding and bioinformatics: Is soil mesofauna abundance and diversity related to farming methods?
Publications
The 2021 FEMS Microbiology Ecology article was selected as an Editor’s Choice.
Conference presentations
2026 May
Microfluidic Horizons 2026 — oral presentation
2025 Dec
BES Annual Meeting 2025 — poster presentation
2025 Jul
FEMS Micro 2025 — oral and poster presentations
Stronger at the seams: antibiotic stress enhances amino acid leakage and cross-feeding. Xenophontos C., Vaidyanathan A., Micali G.
2020 Dec
ISME Virtual Microbial Ecology Summit — poster presentation
Coexisting with cheaters: microbial cheating as a snowdrift game model. Xenophontos C., Harpole W.S., Küsel K., Clark A.T. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.36728.26886
2019 Dec
BES Annual Meeting 2019 — oral presentation
Phylogenetic and functional dissimilarity have contrasting effects on the ecological functioning of synthetic bacterial communities. Xenophontos C., Taubert M., Harpole W.S., Küsel K. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.16123.67361
2019 Sep
SAME16 — poster presentation
2019 Aug
5th iDiv Conference — poster presentation
2018 Dec
4th iDiv Conference — oral presentation
Species phylogenetic and functional diversity contribute to ecological functioning of groundwater bacterial communities. Xenophontos C., Taubert M., Harpole W.S., Küsel K.
2018 Aug
ISME17 — poster presentation
Species phylogenetic and functional diversity contribute to ecological functioning of groundwater bacterial communities. Xenophontos C., Taubert M., Harpole W.S., Küsel K.
2017 Sep
3rd iDiv Conference — poster presentation
Shifts in ecological functioning of groundwater bacteria driven by species interactions. Xenophontos C., Geesink P., Kumar S., Wegner C.-E., Harpole W.S., Küsel K. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.24728.49929
Teaching and supervision
Since 2023
Co-supervision of PhD and MSc students with Dr. Micali (lab work and data analysis), IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital
2019 May
Soil DNA extraction and PCR practical course, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Academic service
2026
Microfluidic Horizons 2026 — organising committee
Social media and communications; session moderator
Outreach
2023
Expo per lo Sport, public event — Humanitas booth, Milan
DNA-extraction instructor for children
2022
Holobiontinnen, art performance exhibit, Leipzig (LOFFT, Ballhaus Ost)
Consulting microbiologist
2019
Long Night of Sciences, public event, Jena
Instructor, microbiology art for children
Grants, awards and studentships
2023
EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship — unsuccessful, post-interview stage
2023
HFSP Long-Term Fellowship — unsuccessful
2019
SAME16 conference travel grant
2016
yDiv Doctoral Programme studentship, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
Societies
- International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) — member
- Royal Society of Biology (RSB) — member (MRSB)
- British Ecological Society (BES) — member
- Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) — affiliate member
- Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary biology (SORTEE) — member
Skills
- Programming: R (incl. Quarto), Python (incl. marimo notebooks), Julia; Git and GitHub version control
- 3D printing and design: PrusaSlicer, BambuStudio, Fusion 360, Meshmixer
- Operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux
- Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint