Neža Orel

SHORT CV

2025-present: Research Assistant (PhD) at the Marine Biology Station Piran.

2019-2025: PhD studies in Environmental Sciences at the University of Nova Gorica. Employed as a Young Researcher at the National Institute of Biology, Marine Biology Station Piran. Doctoral dissertation entitled “The response of microbes to anthropogenically induced perturbations in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea)”, supervised by Prof. Dr. Valentina Turk and Assist. Prof. Dr. Tinkara Tinta.

2018-2019: Professional Associate at the Marine Biology Station Piran, National Institute of Biology.

2014-2017: Master’s degree programme in Environmental Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Nova Gorica. Master’s thesis entitled "Response of the microbial community to a mixture of hazardous compounds", supervised by Prof. Dr. Valentina Turk.

2011-2014: Bachelor’s degree programme in Environmental Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Nova Gorica. Bachelor’s thesis entitled "Impact of a pollutant mixture on the microbial community in seawater from the Gulf of Trieste", supervised by Prof. Dr. Valentina Turk and co-supervised by Dr. Tinkara Tinta.

Links to publications and project work:

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=leEWPLAAAAAJ&hl=sl&oi=ao

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Neza-Orel

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5939-7258

Research experience abroad:

September–December 2021: Visiting PhD Student and FEMS Fellow in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. G. J. Herndl, University of Vienna, Austria.

COLABORATIONS

Involvement in national and international research projects:

• - Antibiotic Resistance Genes - Threat to Marine Coastal Ecosystem Services (SEA THREAT) (ARIS J1-70065) (2026 – present), participating researcher.
• - The role of the microbiome in the life and death of bloom-forming jellyfish (JELLY-BIOME) (ARIS J1-60007) (2025 – present), participating researcher.
• - Viral Infection-Driven Changes in Phytoplankton Aggregates and Their Microbial Processing (ARIS J7-70251) (2026 – present), participating researcher.
• - Jellyfish Blooms: An Overlooked Hotspots and Potential Vectors for Antimicrobial Resistance Transmission in the Marine Environment (JELLY-ARM) (BI-DE/25-27-001) (2025 – present), participating researcher.
• - PETRI-MED - Plankton biodivErsity Through Remote sensing and omIcs in the MEDiterranean Sea (Biodiversa+ 2021-2022 Joint Call ‘Supporting the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem across land and sea’) (2024 – present), participating researcher.
• - National Research program P1-0237 Coastal Sea Research (2015-2019, 2020-present), participating researcher.
• - Decay of an invasive ctenophore blooms as a perturbation to the coastal marine microbial community - from molecules to ecosystem - an integrated interdisciplinary approach (J7-2599) (2020-2024), participating researcher.
• - Drivers that structure coastal marine microbiome with emphasis on pathogens – an integrated approach (ARRS J1-9157) (2018-2022), participating researcher.

FIELD OF RESEARCH

My research focuses on marine microbial ecology, with particular emphasis on how anthropogenic disturbances affect microbial communities in coastal environments. I am especially interested in the impacts of wastewater-derived pollution, antimicrobial resistance, and other human-induced pressures on microbial diversity, function, and biogeochemical processes. I combine microbiological, molecular, meta-omics, and bioinformatic approaches to investigate microbial community structure, functional potential, and responses to environmental change.

SELECTED (NEWER) PUBLICATIONS

1. OREL, Neža, FADEEV, Eduard, CELUSSI, Mauro, TURK, Valentina, KLUN, Katja, AFJEHI-SADAT, Leila, HERNDL, Gerhard J., TINTA, Tinkara. Down the drain: exploring wastewater’s role in coastal microbiome transformations. Microbiome. 2026, vol. 14, art. no. 46, str. 1-22, ilustr. ISSN 2049-2618
2. OREL, Neža, LOKOVŠEK, Ana, ORLANDO-BONACA, Martina, TINTA, Tinkara. Diversity of the surface microbiome of canopy-forming brown macroalgae (Fucales) in the northern Adriatic. Microbiology spectrum. [Spletna izd.]. Apr. 2025, [art. no.] e02204-24, ilustr., zvd. ISSN 2165-0497
3. OREL, Neža, FADEEV, Eduard, HERNDL, Gerhard J., TURK, Valentina, TINTA, Tinkara. Recovering high-quality bacterial genomes from cross-contaminated cultures: a case study of marine Vibrio campbellii. BMC genomics. 2024, vol. 25, art. no 146, str. 1-15, ilustr. ISSN 1471-2164
4. OREL, Neža, FADEEV, Eduard, KLUN, Katja, LIČER, Matjaž, TINTA, Tinkara, TURK, Valentina. Bacterial indicators are ubiquitous members of pelagic microbiome in anthropogenically impacted coastal ecosystem. Frontiers in microbiology. 2022, vol. 12, str. 1-21, ilustr. ISSN 1664-302X
5. MARCHESE, Christian, ZOFFOLI, Maria Laura, RAMOND, Pierre, TINTA, Tinkara, OREL, Neža, et al. Machine learning-driven mapping of prokaryotic community diversity in the Mediterranean Sea using omics, earth observation, and model data. Ecological informatics. May 2026, vol. 95, [article no.] 103747, str. 1-20, ilustr. ISSN 1878-0512
6. FADEEV, Eduard, OREL, Neža, TINTA, Tinkara, AFJEHI-SADAT, Leila, LIU, Haoran, et al. Bacterial extracellular vesicles exhibit distinct functional potential across biogeographic provinces of the South Pacific Ocean. The ISME journal. 2026, vol. , str. 1-25, ilustr. ISSN 1751-7370
7. ELENA, Alan X., OREL, Neža, FANG, Peiju, HERNDL, Gerhard J., BERENDONK, Thomas U., TINTA, Tinkara, KLÜMPER, Uli. Jellyfish blooms : an overlooked hotspot and potential vector for the transmission of antimicrobial resistance in marine environments. mSystems. ilustr. ISSN 2379-5077
8. CELUSSI, Mauro, MANNA, Vincenzo, BANCHI, Elisa, FONTI, Viviana, BAZZARO, Matteo, FLANDER-PUTRLE, Vesna, KLUN, Katja, KRALJ, Martina, OREL, Neža, TINTA, Tinkara. Annual recurrence of prokaryotic climax communities in shallow waters of the North Mediterranean. Environmental microbiology.

Link to COBISS, a Slovenian database containing all my publications