Gothenburg, Sweden — writing in public

I study the microbes that quietly eat methane — one of the most potent greenhouse gases on Earth — and I think most people have no idea they exist.

My name is Cris. I'm a PhD researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, Sri Lankan by origin, born in Italy, and now living in Sweden. My research is on methanotrophic bacteria in wastewater treatment systems — trying to understand which microbes are doing the methane-eating work, how they function, and how they collaborate with the broader microbial community around them. I do most of this through bioinformatics, recovering and analysing microbial genomes directly from environmental samples.

Beyond the lab, I co-founded DreamSpace Biolab — Sri Lanka's first open-access citizen-science lab — and founded Benzyme, a life science community that brought together researchers and builders in Sri Lanka. I also make YouTube videos for people curious about what happens at the intersection of biology and technology — the ideas, the tools, and the people building with them.

What this site is about: the research (translated into plain language), building things at the intersection of biology and technology, and the honest version of what it looks like to do all of this as a Sri Lankan kid who ended up in Sweden.

The honest version: I'm a scientist who wants to build, and a builder who keeps coming back to the science. I haven't fully figured out what that makes me yet — but this site is where I work it out in public.

currently
Research
Investigating microbial communities in PNA reactors — with a focus on methanotrophs and their role in the system.
Building
Learning LangChain and agent frameworks. Exploring how agentic AI can be applied to microbial ecology.
Learning
Swedish — SVA 3.
Creating
Scripting new YouTube videos.
in progress
  • 01
    VideoPhD life, the facts nobody tells you
    Scripting
  • 02
    WorkshopNextflow for microbial ecologists
    Upcoming
  • 03
    ProjectAgentic AI for metagenomics
    In development

New essays every few weeks — research in plain language, founder reflections, and notes from the edge of academia. No filler.