Ashley Isaac
Instructor of Biology
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: Dr.rer.nat, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and University of Bremen; MSc and BSc (Hons) Microbiology, University of KwaZulu-Natal; BSc Microbial Biotechnology, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Research Areas: Microbial ecology; Marine science; Symbiosis
Ashley Isaac is an Instructor of Biology at New York University Abu Dhabi. He holds a Doctor rerum naturalium (PhD equivalent) in Biology from the University of Bremen and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, as well as MSc and BSc (Hons) degrees in Microbiology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Isaac’s research explores the interactions between bacteria and phytoplankton, with a particular focus on microbial ecology and the molecular mechanisms that shape host–microbe associations. His work integrates bioinformatics and multi-omics approaches to understand microbial community dynamics in marine environments. He has published in journals such as Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Frontiers in Microbiology, and PNAS, with recent studies highlighting the role of Roseobacteraceae in diatom phycospheres and the genetic basis of bacterial attachment mechanisms. He maintains active collaborations with the Marine Microbiomics Lab at NYUAD and research groups across the globe.
Before joining NYU Abu Dhabi as Instructor of Biology, Isaac held positions as a Global Academic Fellow at NYU Shanghai and NYU Abu Dhabi. He also worked as a research assistant in the HIV Unit of the South African Medical Research Council. He has received recognition through the award of multiple research scholarships through the National Research Foundation in South Africa and mentoring achievements by guiding student teams to success at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competitions.