Our studies range from examining roles of the tiniest biological entities in the ocean – viruses – all the way up to interactions between microbes and multicellular organisms like zooplankton that fuel fisheries. A key focus is on how eukaryotic algae, especially tiny picoeukaryotes, and photosynthetic cyanobacteria vary seasonally and how they will acclimate to future ocean conditions. These studies must be performed in a food web context, since the entire marine biosphere is interlinked, and within an evolutionary context since each organism holds a long history of adaptation, adaptations that will continue as ecosystems change. Collectively, our unique contributions span four interdisciplinary research themes – with studies ranging from functional genomics to protein evolution, photosynthesis and light sensing, microbial interactions and oceanographic processes.