people
members of the lab
Principal Investigator
Johannes Cairns, PhD
Johannes Cairns is Principal Investigator of the Microbial Evolutionary Genetics (MEG) Lab, operating between Lund University and the University of Turku. He is Assistant Professor & DDLS Fellow at Lund University and Collegium researcher & Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Evolutionary Genetics and Bioinformatics at the University of Turku, with affiliations in interdisciplinary antimicrobial resistance and data-driven life science environments in Sweden and Finland.
His research develops predictive, quantitative understanding of microbial evolution, with a focus on antimicrobial resistance, community resilience, and infection dynamics. The group integrates experimental evolution, synthetic and clinically inspired microbial communities, genetic engineering, genomics, and bioinformatics to determine when resistance evolution and treatment outcomes are predictable, and when they depend on ecological interactions among coexisting microbes.
The lab combines wet-lab experimentation with computational modelling and close collaboration across microbiology, evolutionary biology, ecology, and data science.
If you are interested in joining the group, please get in touch by email at johannes.cairns at med.lu.se
Senior Staff Scientist
Karina Malmros, PhD
I am a researcher with a curious mind, steady hands, and with a love for everything molecular. I have a track record with project management in leukemia research (PhD in experimental hematology from 2010, LU), transfusion medicine and lung cancer research. My first project in the MEG Lab concerns the ecological and evolutionary dynamics contributing to antibiotic resistance and treatment persistence in polymicrobial urinary tract infections.
PhD researcher
Inga-Katariina Aapalampi, MSc
I am a doctoral researcher at the Department of Biology, University of Turku. I am interested in how different stressors affect bacterial communities. Also, I am particularly interested in studying the development of antibiotic resistance and eco-evolutionary dynamics in multispecies communities.
PhD researcher
Adamaris Muñiz Tirado, MSc
Hello! I am a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Turku. I study how climate‑driven temperature changes shape host–microbiota coevolution in a Drosophila model system. More broadly, I’m interested in how environmental and human‑imposed pressures influence microbial evolution, horizontal gene transfer, and host–microbe interactions. My work draws on experimental evolution and molecular approaches to explore how these relationships shift under changing conditions.
MSc researcher
Aava Rantakokko, BSc
I am a master’s student in genetics at the University of Turku. I’m doing my master’s thesis on testing the transfer of DNA barcodes to different Gram-negative bacteria for lineage tracking. I am broadly interested in genetics, but particularly in molecular and microbial genetics.
Project Assistant
Xhilda Meta, MSc
I am a biotechnology graduate from Lund University with an interest in applied microbiology. As a Project Assistant at MEG Lab I am supporting experiments on microbial evolution and antibiotic response. My current focus is on establishing and optimising an in-vitro model for urinary tract infections, building on my experience in synthetic microbial co-cultures and clinical microbiology. I am particularly interested in microbial community dynamics, antibiotic resistance and developing actionable solutions for infections caused by resistant pathogens.
Intern
Leo Zhang
I am a Bachelor’s student in Biomedicine at Lund University, I have spent my summer as a student intern helping in the MEG lab at Lund University. My work focuses on building a polymicrobial catheter-associated urinary tract infection model to study how species interactions shape antibiotic resistance and treatment persistence. I am broadly interested in microbiology, epigenetics, and neuroscience.
Alumni
Anna Bischofberger, PhD
During 2025-2026, Anna was affiliated with the MEG Lab as a postdoctoral researcher funded by an SNF Postdoc mobility fellowship. She worked on how resource quantity and complexity influence experimental microbial community dynamics, leading to a publication in ISME Communications.