People

Matti Gralka - Group leader

Matti is an assistant professor in the Systems Biology group at the A-LIFE department at VU Amsterdam. Before moving to Amsterdam, he did his PhD in Physics at the University of California Berkeley before switching to marine microbial ecology during his postdoc at MIT. 

Click here for his full CV and Google Scholar profile. 

To get in touch, simply email him at m.gralka@vu.nl. 

Sarah Flickinger - PhD student

Sarah studies the effects of phages on marine microbial communities. She holds an MSc in Biological Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island (USA) and a BA in Biology from Vassar College (USA). Previously, she has worked at the International Atomic Energy Agency, as a scientist at biotechnology startups, and as an environmental scientist. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities.  

Charlie Berendsen - MSc student

Charlie is interested in modeling the effects of phages in microbial communities through computer simulations. He is pursuing an MSc in Systems Biology and Bioinformatics at the VU and holds two undergraduate degrees in Biological/Biosystems Engineering (TU Delft) and  Information & Interactive Media Design (ArtEZ University of the Arts).

Marlotte Klein - MSc student

Marlotte is studying phages of vibrios to understand their stability and infectivity across diverse hosts. After a BSc from the Hogeschool Leiden, she is now pursuing an MSc in Biomedical Sciences at the VU.

Amber Douwes - MSc student

Amber is working to understand how phages shape interactions between bacteria. To that end, she is developing and validating qPCR approaches to characterize bacteria and phage cocultures in high throughout. Amber is pursuing an MSc in Biomolecular Sciences after a BSc in Biology, both at the VU. 

Alumni

Laura Volle (MSc internship, Biomedical Sciences (UvA) 2025)

John Collins (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2025, in collaboration with Linda Amaral-Zettler) 

Kunal Chaudhary (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2025) 

Yurita Atmopawiro (BSc internship, Biology, 2025)

Victor Piaskowski (MSc internship, Computational Sciences (UvA), 2025) 

Helun Șenoğlu (MSc internship, Biomolecular Sciences, 2025)

Francesca Barbieri (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2024, in collaboration with Linda Amaral-Zettler)

Sanne Petersen (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2024)

Yuecheng Liu (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2023)

Florence Berbain (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2023)

Tania Alonso Vasquez (Visiting PhD student, University of Florence, 2023)

Ashima Khanna (MSc internship, TU Munich, 2023)

Ana Cudic (BSc internship, Biology, 2023)

Sangamithra Kumar Senthil (MSc internship, Biomolecular sciences, 2023)

Jerom Groenewegen (MSc internship, Systems Biology & Bioinformatics, 2023)