You’ve seen our products, now meet the team who knows our technologies from the inside out.
From designing bespoke sampling strategies to developing our product portfolio, our products team can be found developing and optimising our products for ease of use and performance at every stage of the client journey. This includes applying our technologies to your latest proposal, maintaining a high-quality sampling experience, and ensuring the biological complexity of your samples is suitably captured and represented in your reports.
Products Team
Join Our Team
Dr Bastian Egeter - Products Director
Role
Bastian leads the Products Team, which collaborates with the Business Development, Product Delivery, Science, and Communication Teams to identify emerging client requirements, develop matching products, and provide support for field study design and results interpretation.
Academia
Postdoc in environmental metagenomics at CIBIO-InBIO, PhD in Zoology and PgDipSci in Wildlife Management from the University of Otago, BSc in Natural Science from Trinity College Dublin.
Significant Collaborations
Bastian has spent the last 20 years studying and working in the environmental field. He began his career as an ecological consultant, conducting environmental impact assessments for major national projects. During his PhD and postdoctoral positions, he focused on molecular diet analysis of invasive or threatened species, including cheetahs, toads, and scorpions. He also oversaw projects involving the detection of fauna and flora from aquatic eDNA, with each study involving both ecological data collection and the development of eDNA methods. Bastian has contributed to numerous scientific publications and supervised four MSc and two PhD students, and he now brings this wealth of knowledge to NatureMetrics.
Dr Malu Avila-Jimenez - Proposal Coordinator
Role
Malu assists with the development and grant application for R&D projects, as well as coordinating the reporting of R&D grants.
Academia
Malu holds a post-Doc in Ecosystem Services at the Environment and Sustainability Institute (University of Exeter) and PhD in Arctic Biology, from the University of Bergen (Norway), working from the remote High Arctic at the University Centre in Svalbard.
Significant Collaborations
During her PhD, Malu’s work in Arctic invertebrate biodiversity was based at a small research centre in Longyearbyen, in the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard (Norway). This prompted her to establish early multiple international collaborations to compensate from the shortcomings of a small research group, facilitated by her work from the international research station in Ny-Ålesund and her participation in the Kinnvika Project for the 2007 International Polar Year. One of her first collaborations was with the British Antarctic Survey, where she carried out most of her DNA work.
She also worked closely with the Zoology Department at The University of Bergen and with an international network of invertebrate scientists mainly from Northern European countries and Russia. As post-doctoral scientist at the University of Exeter, she further developed her network to include a large suite of scientists working on ecosystem services and carbon capture within the UK, particularly supporting the SECURE project from Newcastle University. Malu’s strong ecological expertise led her onto becoming the Ecology editor at Nature Communications, and further onto developing her own initiatives as a consultant supporting scientists to prepare research for high impact publication and grant applications. She has supported scientists and business for UKRI and European funded projects in subjects ranging from battery architecture to Arctic and Antarctic microbial diversity and agriculture monitoring systems.
Dr Alexandra Crampton-Platt - Lead Bioinformatics Developer
Role
Alex leads our data team and is responsible for ensuring that metabarcoding data is analysed to a high standard with robust and replicable pipelines. Day to day, Alex focuses on analysis of the most challenging client projects and leads the ongoing development of our pipelines. Alex is always looking for ways to improve the way that data is analysed and presented for our clients, to ensure that the biological complexity of samples is correctly captured and summarised effectively.
Academia
Alex held a postdoctoral position at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin. She holds a PhD in Biodiversity Genomics from University College London, an MSc in Entomology and a BSc in Biology from Imperial College London.
Significant Collaborations
During her PhD, Alex developed mitochondrial metagenomics, a technique for assessing the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of complex samples based on shotgun sequencing and reconstruction of mitochondrial genomes. This led to multiple collaborations with other academics looking to apply this method to their study system. Postdoctoral work at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research focussed on the problem of taxonomic assignment of short sequences derived from blood ingested by leeches, in ecosystems where reference data is limited. The experience of that project has subsequently informed Alex’s approach to taxonomic assignment for NatureMetrics’ client data and allowed for the integration of complex probabilistic methods into our pipelines.
Dr Judith Bakker - eDNA Product Manager - Marine
Role
Judith is part of the New Product Development Team at NatureMetrics, working with our business development and science teams to provide support to clients and collaborators conducting marine monitoring projects, and to design optimal sampling strategies for complex client and R&D projects.
Academia
Judith is a marine biologist interested in multidisciplinary research rooted in molecular biology. She holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences (focussed on human and animal anatomy and (neuro)physiology), and a MSc in Marine Biology from the University of Amsterdam, working on coral recruitment in Curaçao and the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances on juvenile lemon sharks in the Bahamas. During her PhD at the University of Salford, she worked on the development and application of environmental DNA approaches for the assessment and monitoring of marine communities with a special focus on sharks. Her post-doctoral research at Florida International University continued to build upon the advancement of eDNA applications for the assessment and monitoring of shark and fish diversity, seasonal migrations, and the high-resolution investigation of diet composition.
Evie Gardner - Product Assistant
About
Organising and disseminating information regarding our product offerings, assisting in the writing of internal and industry-facing reviews, creating internal and external resources, assisting with large R&D or client projects, assisting the Research team in identifying and exploring future technologies, assisting with lab work and fieldwork for Product Development as needed.
Academic Background
Bsc Marine Biology from the University of Exeter, with a year spent studying at the University of Victoria in Canada. Field work carried out in the Azores, around the UK, and in British Columbia.
About
Final year research project at university focussed on assessing the impact of an invasive species on native wildlife around the UK. Have previously volunteered for conservation organisations, including working on loggerhead turtle conservation in Greece.
Dr Hayley Craig - Senior eDNA Product Manager - Terrestrial
Role
Hayley leads the development of terrestrial eDNA products at NatureMetrics. This includes providing bespoke advice on client projects, overseeing the technical development and optimisation of eDNA products, and working on R&D projects to develop new products.
Academia
Hayley’s postdoctoral research at the University of Manchester examined land management effects on greenhouse gas emissions from grassland soils, her PhD research investigated effects of nutrient loading and plant genetic diversity on microbial diversity, composition, and function in mangrove soils, and her MSc in Plant Science examined the effects of plant diversity on soil bacterial communities. Hayley also holds a BSc in Biology from Macquarie University and has worked on an academic project using genetics to assess environmental adaptation in barley.
Significant Collaborations
Since joining NatureMetrics in 2020, Hayley has managed client projects across various sectors including regenerative agriculture, infrastructure, and offshore oil and gas. Hayley has previously worked as an Environmental Consultant in Australia on contaminated land projects for a range of clients including government, railways, developers, and property management companies. She has collaborated with Natural England and National Trust, working on projects to assess the effects of land management practices and development on the surrounding environment. Her PhD fieldwork was conducted in Florida in collaboration with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the University of Florida.
Dr Sarah Chordekar - Bioinformatician
Role
Sarah is involved in the processing, quality assessment and taxonomic identification of metabarcoding sequencing data from client samples. Sarah helps maintain, optimise and automate existing analysis pipelines as well as develop new pipelines for all aspects of data processing within the company.
Academia
PhD in Plant Genetics from the University of Bath, MSc in Biosciences from the University of Bath, BSc in Life Sciences and Biochemistry from St.Xavier’s College, Mumbai University.
Significant Collaborations
Sarah has had extensive laboratory experience in molecular biology ranging from DNA and RNA extraction, next generation and minION sequencing, PCR, microscopy and flow cytometry. This, coupled with her programming experience in UNIX, Python, and R for statistics and data analysis equip her with the foundation and knowledge needed to appropriately analyse, interpret and troubleshoot sequencing data.
Dr Peter Davey - Bioinformatics Research Scientist
Role
Peter works within the Data Team. He is involved with bioinformatics research development, whereby he seeks creative and innovative ways to improve existing bioinformatic analytical pipelines as well as devise new analytical methods to expand on the services offered by NatureMetrics.
Academia
- PhD in Seagrass Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics (University of Technology Sydney)
- MSc in Marine Biodiversity with Biotechnology (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh)
- BSc Honours in Biology (Newcastle Upon Tyne University)
Significant Collaborations
Peter has studied and worked in the Life Sciences sector for 14 years, gaining experience in marine ecology and consultancy, molecular biology, pathogen detection, and bioinformatics.
Awarded a PhD scholarship (University of Technology Sydney & CSIRO), he studied the molecular responses of Australian seagrasses to climate change. He has also worked for environmental consultancies and completed two post-doctoral positions. The first, investigating mega-herbivore interactions with seagrass meadows in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon and secondly, genetic regulation of bioadhesion in sea anemones.
Author of 12 scientific publications, Peter has demonstrated his capacity to lead and collaborate within international scientific teams.
Peter’s main expertise and passion is devising and applying bioinformatic methodologies to interpret high-throughput datasets. He has eight years of experience in this field, gained through academic and industry positions in Australia and the UK.
Hannah Flintham - Junior eDNA Product Manager - Terrestrial
Role
Hannah joined NatureMetrics in September 2020 for an internship working alongside Dr Hayley Craig to develop our soil and sediment services whilst learning from and working with our laboratory technicians. Hannah now works within the terrestrial products team developing and optimising new and existing products.
Academia
MSc in Marine Biology from the University of Southampton.
Significant Collaborations
During Hannah’s degree she gained experience in a range of molecular biology techniques, in particular RNA extraction and sequencing. For her final year project she focused on understanding differences in biogeochemical functions of marine microbial communities on sinking versus suspended particles in the ocean using metatranscriptomic analyses.
Dr Nathan Geraldi - Senior eDNA Product Manager – Marine
About
Lead research and development of projects in the marine environment and assist clients who have special requests.
Nathan will also initiate projects that enhance nature-based solutions. These projects will include using eDNA to gauge restoration efforts and improve assessments of carbon sequestration.
Academia
- BS in Marine Biology, University of Maryland, USA
- BS in Psychology, University of Maryland, USA
- MS in Marine Science, University of Southern Alabama, USA
- PhD in Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina, USA
- Postdoctoral Fellow at Queens University Belfast, KAUST, and Aarhus University
- Research Scientist at KAUST
Significant Collaborations
Nathan has studied many different marine systems in three different continents and have a wide net of collaborators (>100) within universities, governmental agencies, and non-profit companies. For the past five years, he specialized in using environmental DNA (eDNA) to assess past and present ecological communities. This has included all steps from eDNA extraction to dissemination of findings, including running sequencing platforms and creating custom reference databases. International projects include describing communities in the open and deep ocean, deep sea trenches, Arctic and Arabian sediment cores, and sources of organic carbon in blue carbon habitats.
Dr Lynsey Harper - Senior eDNA Product Manager - Freshwater
Role
Lynsey is a Freshwater Product Manager in the Products team. Lynsey leads the research and development of freshwater monitoring at NatureMetrics, overseeing client projects and applying our technologies to address specific client challenges.
Academia
Lynsey has over two years of postdoctoral experience after completing positions with the University of Hull, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Liverpool John Moores University. She holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Hull, a MSc in Quantitative Methods in Biodiversity, Conservation and Epidemiology from the University of Glasgow, and a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Glasgow.
Significant Collaborations
Lynsey is an aquatic ecologist with over six years’ experience of developing and applying eDNA analysis for biodiversity monitoring. Before getting involved in eDNA research, she researched and conserved endangered herpetofauna in Tobago, and published on the benefits of expedition fieldwork for students and for science. She also assessed the post-translocation status of one of the largest Scottish great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) populations as well as habitat and survey criteria for great crested newts in Scotland. In her PhD and postdoctoral positions, she used single-species and community eDNA approaches to study species distribution, diet, and interactions in freshwater, marine and terrestrial contexts. Using aquatic eDNA monitoring, she assessed pond biodiversity to aid conservation and management, contributed to the development of an eDNA-based lake fish classification system under the EU Water Framework Directive, and developed single-species assays for threatened or invasive species, including invertebrates, fish, and reptiles. With faecal metabarcoding, she has analysed diet of threatened or invasive species, ranging from otters to minks to feral hogs to bats. She has contributed to the development of “natural sampler” DNA approaches, including metabarcoding of flowers to assess pollinator diversity and metabarcoding of sponge tissue for marine biodiversity assessment. All of these projects have given her substantial experience of data acquisition, analysis and dissemination as well as method development. Lynsey has authored multiple scientific publications, reports and eDNA protocols, and has supervised 1 MSc and 4 PhD students.
Dr Lewis Campbell - eDNA Product Manager - Aquatic Microbes and Barcoding
Role
Lewis’ role at NatureMetrics is to create and manage products and services that convert information about ecosystem microbial inhabitants into actionable insight.
Academia
BSc in Zoology and MSc in Molecular Ecology from Bangor University. PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Exeter and the Zoological Society of London.
Lewis’ PhD research focussed on exploring the impacts of viral pathogens on European amphibians. This work documented population level changes brought about by disease and demonstrated that the amphibian skin microbiome likely plays a role in defence against emerging viruses.
Significant Collaborations
Prior to joining NatureMetrics, Lewis held postdoctoral research positions in the USA with the US Geological Survey – National Wildlife Health Center and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Whilst in these roles Lewis researched how host-associated and environmental microbiomes interact with and can be used to mitigate lethal emerging diseases of wildlife. Lewis is particularly proud of his work on the deadly fungal disease of bats, White-nose syndrome. The findings of this work, conducted in collaboration with national and state level conservation agencies demonstrated that microbiomes can be used to arrest the environmental growth of the causative fungal pathogen, and to predict species level susceptibility.
Luke Meadows - Product and Innovation Pipeline Manager
Role
Luke helps to keep things on track, so that we continue to launch the very best, most cutting-edge products, providing our customers with the most robust and trusted nature data available – providing clarity on the complexities of biodiversity, so they can make informed decisions that will have the greatest positive impact on the natural world.
Academia
MSc Conservation & Biodiversity from the University of Exeter. Invented a trap for the harmless capture and re-capture of burrowing crickets.
Significant Collaborations
Before joining NatureMetrics Luke developed new products and revenue streams for some of the world’s leading content creator management agencies: Gleam Futures and Margravine – home to some of the world’s most successful social media stars. Prior to this, Luke worked as a Product Manager in the music industry, across major and independent record labels and management companies.
Dr Katie Cruickshanks - Product Manager - Managed Services
Role
Katie and her team develop data products, tools and insights which help decision-makers to make better choices for the natural world. She understands and interprets the biodiversity data needs of clients across sectors such as infrastructure, conservation and extractives. Katie works with a team of statisticians, ecologists, data scientists and designers to create and deploy biodiversity and health metrics. This is a new and exciting area of growth for NatureMetrics which will launch us from services which discover the species that are present, to providing ergonomic visualisations of what they mean, why they are important and what progress our clients are making to enhance and protect nature and support functioning ecosystems.
Academia
Katie has a BSc in Biology with Oceanography and a PhD in intertidal ecology and evolution from the University of Southampton. She worked part-time as a lecturer in the History of Nature Conservation at Kingston University in London.
Significant Collaborations
Katie has worked in the UK nature conservation sector since 2006 with a focus on biodiversity monitoring, indicators, trends and also consultancy work on recreational disturbance with government agencies, local authorities and NGOs. Prior to joining Nature Metrics, Katie was Senior Data Ecologist with Butterfly Conservation working on new opportunities and contracts to mobilise biodiversity data for greater impact. Clients included Defra, Forestry England, Forestry Scotland and private forestry enterprises. Previously she managed agricultural advisory work for Butterfly Conservation with Natural England and policy work with Wildlife and Countryside Link. Katie has also worked closely with large UK citizen science programmes, working with schools (Learning through Landscapes) and enhancing digital and data solutions for mass participation surveys (The Big Butterfly Count).
Dr Kate Denton - Junior eDNA Product Manager - Invertebrates/Faeces
Role
In her role at NatureMetrics, Kate works together with other members of the team creating and developing products for DNA identification in invertebrate communities, as well as services extracting species and dietary information from animal faeces.
Academia
BSc in Biology and MRes in Biodiversity and Conservation from the University of Leeds. PhD in Agriculture, Health and the Environment from the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich.
Kate’s PhD research explored the potential of UK bats as contributors in agricultural pest suppression. As part of the project, Kate used DNA metabarcoding to compare and contrast the dietary ecology of two species in the context of ecosystem services within an agricultural matrix.
Significant Collaborations
Prior to joining NatureMetrics, Kate spent time as a Research Ecologist with the British Trust for Ornithology, and has worked extensively within the UK ecological consultancy sector in a self employed role.
Kate has been involved in multiple national and international projects, working with organisations to undertake research and monitoring in bat ecology and diversity.
She is always keen to foster collaborations to develop new approaches in the assessment of ecosystems.
Dr Steve Crookes - Head of Product – North America
Role
Steve provides a conduit between the development and validation of eDNA scientific advances and client and customer needs, as specific to North American ecosystems and markets. Alongside the development and tailoring of product lines to suit North American clientele, Steve also embodies the role of eDNA ambassador for the NM brand in the North American marketplace, to identify and source extramural funding, and to ensure all products meet the required minimal mandatory standards required both of NM and of the intended market.
Academia
Steve holds a Masters and PhD in molecular ecology and population genetics, with postdoctoral experience accrued in experimental ecology, comparison of biomonitoring methods, and environmental DNA.
Significant Collaborations
Over 7 years, Steve has accumulated experience working both in academia and private sector settings with guiding end-users and stakeholders in the adoption, optimization, design and interpretation of environmental DNA surveys, with a specific focus on quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. Partners include first nations, academic, governmental scientific institutions, environmental consultancies, and smaller conservation concerns (e.g., conservation authorities).
Finley Grover-Thomas - Data Entry
Role
Finley’s role is to find and fill in any missing gaps in Nature Metrics’ sample data; he will also be working on standardising data files and streamlining the process of reviewing sample characteristics to help inform the Products team going forward.
Academia
Finley has an Integrated Master’s in Genetics from University College London (2021).
Significant Collaborations
Finley’s degree in Genetics covered a range of topics and included extended research projects on ancient DNA and mitonuclear incompatibility. He has additionally previously worked on ancient sediment at the Leipzig Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, was a student Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, and has a paper published on the impact of mitonuclear incompatibilities on environmental responses in fruit flies.
Louis Nicholls - Junior Bioinformatician
Role
Louis is responsible for processing, quality checking and taxonomically identifying client samples. Additionally, Louis is involved with improving automation and efficiency of certain processes within the bioinformatics pipelines.
Academia
Louis is an entomological and molecular ecologist. He graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a Biology BSc (HONS) and then Harper Adams University with an Entomology MSc. Louis was awarded the Royal Entomology Society top student award for his MSc.
Significant Collaborations
Louis has significant experience in ecological and entomological fieldwork both within a voluntary and academic setting. He has collaborated with various scientists and universities throughout these experiences, most notably in Kenya and Portugal. Louis also has notable experience in bioinformatics-related skills such as statistical programming in R, python programming and NGS data management and structure. He previously worked for Medicines Discoveries Catapult as an NGS Assay Innovation Scientist and bioinformatician for COVID-19 sequencing.
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