Taylor Priest
Department:
D-BIOL
Hosts:
Prof. Shinichi Sunagawa, Prof. Marie C. Schölmerich
Research group:
Microbiome Research
Fellowship start:
July 2024
Selected publications:
Priest T, Oldenburg E, Popa O et al. Seasonal recurrence and modular assembly of an Arctic pelagic marine microbiome. Nat Comm. 2025;16:1326.
external page https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56203-3
Priest T, Henry N, Weber T et al. The JEDI marker as a universal measure of planetary biodiversity. Nat comm. 2025 [in review].
external page https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.11.669668v1.abstract
Contact:
E-mail
Links:
external page Personal website
external page On the trail of evolution – video by ETH Foundation
Dr. Taylor Priest
NOMIS–ETH Postdoctoral Fellow
Taylor Priest is a microbiologist and microbial ecologist who is passionate about understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that have shaped microbial life on Earth. During his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, he studied the diversity and function of microorganisms in polar ocean ecosystems and how they have adapted to such pronounced environmental conditions. More recently, Taylor joined the Microbiome Research Lab at ETH Zürich, where he has been focused on researching the mechanisms that drive diversification in microorganisms, to better understand how evolution progresses. Now, Taylor aims to investigate evolution from a different perspective: that of mobile genetic elements.
Taylor Priest’s research combines DNA sequence data and innovative computational approaches with field sampling and experimental analyses to explore mobile genetic elements across Earth's diverse biomes. Under the mentorship of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shinichi Sunagawa and Asst. Prof. Dr. Marie Schölmerich, he aims to unravel the diversity of these elements, decipher the genetic material they shuttle across environments, and discern their evolutionary trajectories and influence on the evolution of microbial life forms.