Tess Brewer is a Zurich-based microbiologist who tackles genomic puzzles with a mix of wet lab experiments and computational techniques. For example, a recent project required phylogenetic statistical methods, evolutionary computational analyses, heterologous gene expression and mass spectrometry to unravel complications of horizontal gene transfer.

She is interested in non-model organisms, bacterial diversity and the noble art of figure design. When not describing herself in the third person, she likes to hike (on the downhill portions of the trail), jeopordize her personal relationships with highly competitive board games, and sleep.