Dr. Ricardo Leon Sampedro

I am a researcher in the Bonhoeffer group studying the persistence and evolution of plasmids in complex gut microbial communities. My research focuses on understanding the factors that shape plasmid maintenance, transfer, and adaptation using both experimental and computational approaches. In the past, I have worked on plasmid dissemination in hospitals, horizontal gene transfer dynamics, and the evolutionary interactions between plasmids and their bacterial hosts. I welcome students interested in microbial evolution, plasmid biology, and quantitative approaches to studying mobile genetic elements.