Cristal Ramos-Madrigal is a biologist and doctoral candidate in Biological Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is a member of the Microbiomics Laboratory at ENES Morelia, UNAM. Her research interests encompass microbial ecology, environmental microbiomics, metagenomics, astrobiology, and the One Health approach, which seeks to understand the connections between environmental microbial communities, ecosystem processes, and human health.

In addition to her research, she is a high-performance long-distance athlete, combining endurance sports with her scientific career. For her, science and sport are two lifelong passions that are integral to her life. Her scientific career began during her master’s studies, where she explored microbial communities in hydrothermal and desert ecosystems using genomic and metagenomic methods. Her research focuses on environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, bioinformatics, and the study of microorganisms adapted to extreme conditions.

Currently, her research focuses on the study of the microbiome of arid Mexican regions, particularly the Sonoran Desert. She combines 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of bacterial and archaeal communities, microbial culture, and high-throughput sequencing metagenomics to characterize microbial diversity and investigate the ecological and functional roles of desert microorganisms. Her work aims to better understand how microbial communities contribute to the functioning and adaptation of ecosystems in arid environments.

Email: cristal.ram.mad [at] gmail.com