Dr. Vera Tai is a microbiologist working at the intersection between diversity, ecology, genomics, and bioinformatics. She is an Assistant Professor in Biology at Western University, and leads a research group, the TAI lab studying microbial diversity, evolution, and biogeography to elucidate the ecological roles of microorganisms and microbiomes in support of complex ecosystems or animal hosts. She has also been actively working with the UBC Hakai Coastal Initiative's to study how marine food webs operate, with a particular focus on British Columbia’s coastal ocean.