B.Sc. Biological Sciences, Nanjing Agriculture University

Ph.D. Applied Marine Biology, Nanjing Agriculture University

Cong Fei was born in a coastal city and has been interested in everything related to the ocean since she was a child. Cong studied biological sciences at Nanjing Agricultural University during her undergraduate studies. After graduation, Cong was recommended to study for a postgraduate in applied marine biology without taking the test. During her Ph.D., she studied algal physiology and genetics with Dr. Changhai Wang at Nanjing Agricultural University. She then applied for a scholarship program by the China scholarship council to study the interaction between microalgae and bacteria in Dr. Shady Amin's lab. She worked on quorum sensing in the phycosphere of phytoplankton, investigating bacteria using quorum sensing signals to regulate the ecological niche in the phycosphere. In 2020, she officially joined the Marine Microbiomics Lab as a postdoctoral researcher to study a five-year project on the bacterial influence that affects annual harmful algal blooms off the coast of Florida and interactions between harmful algal blooms and bacteria funded by NOAA. Cong expects to expand from microbiology to oceanography and bioinformatics during her work in the Marine Microbiomics Lab.