Maria Dittrich
Maria Dittrich is internationally known for her research on mineral-bacteria interactions in a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic environments, including lake sediments. Her research approach combines several techniques in molecular microbiology, aqueous geochemistry and mineralogy. Priory to join the University of Toronto, she completed her Habilitation at the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology (ETH) and her PhD thesis at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology in Berlin, Germany. She is interested in the nucleation, precipitation and dissolution of biominerals under both laboratory conditions and in natural environments. She has trained 20 graduate students and is the author of 65 peer-reviewed publications and books chapters.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Zach DiLoreto, PhD
Postdoctoral MITACS fellow, 2021-2024
Zach’s research focuses on the relationship between microbiology and minerals. His current research examines low temperature dolomite formed in the microbial mats of the Sabkhas in Qatar and phosphorus cycle in soil and lakes.
Khoren Avetisyan, PhD
Postdoctoral MITACS fellow, 2021
My postdoctoral research is focused on understanding the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus (P), methane (CH4) in lakes.
Sara Zaferani, PhD
My research focuses on phosphorus geochemistry in marine systems.
Basirath Raoof, PhD
My research focuses on anoxygenic phototrophs from Qatar's sabkhas.
PhD Students
David Aceituno-Caicedo
2019 -
My research focus is in microbial carbonate precipitation and its potential for carbon and metals sequestrations. I’m looking into it’s applications in bioconcrete.
Xiaoqing Shao
2020 -
My research focus is Phosphorus retention i Lake sediments. I specifically study the role of microbes in vivianite formation.
Nigarsan Kokilathasan
2021 -
My research is focused on understanding the impact of neoplastic on cyanobacteria.
Ivan Strakhov
2020 -
Mahmud Hassan
2024 -
Benjamin Lei
2025 -
Master Students
Kajal
2024 -
Undergraduate Students
Natalie Cheung
work-study student
2024 –
Yuwei Zhao
work-study student
2023 –
Navdeep Kaur Gill
work-study student
2025 –
Our Alumni
Enqi Xiang
M.Sc. Student
2018 - 2022
Sanchit Garg
Undergraduate Student
2018 - 2020
Ammar Alibrahim
PhD
Graduate Student
2015 - 2020
Diane Plouchart
PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
2019 - 2021
Samrat Alam
PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
2019 - 2022
Da Lin
Graduate Student
Nanjing University
2018 - 2020
Stefan Markovic
Postdoctoral Fellow
Rafael França de Mattos
2018 - 2020
Carlos Paulo
Graduate Student
2011 - 2016
Tingting Zhu
Graduate Student
2011 - 2016
Jiying Li
Anqi Liang
Undergraduate and Master Student
2011-2014
Blandine Barthod
Maryam Tavafoghi Jahromi
postdoctoral fellow
2017-2018
Jiying Li
Postdoctoral Fellow
2016 - 2018