The Aquatic Microbial Ecology and Oceanography Laboratory- Prof. Ilana Berman- Frank 

The microbial (bacterioplankton and phytoplankton) members of aquatic environments contribute ~ 50% to global primary production, are essential to aquatic food-webs, nutrient recycling, and all major biogeochemical cycles (e.g. carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus).

Since its establishment in 2002, research at the Berman-Frank laboratory is dedicated to the impact of aquatic ecosystems on the environment and society, ranging from the local to the global scales, from Lake Kinneret (Israel) to the Mediterranean and Red Seas, to the South Pacific Ocean. Research is focused on how global changes and environmental stressors influence the organisms forming the base of the aquatic food-webs: bacterioplankton and phytoplankton.

Research is divided into two principle themes:

1. Processes impacting marine N2 fixation, photosynthesis and export and their feedbacks into global biogeochemical cycling.
2. Local and global drivers impacting production and export of phytoplankton and bacteria in the eastern Mediterranean Sea