I am a marine ecologist with a strong affiliation towards marine biochemistry. My research focuses on understanding the role that marine sponges play in transforming the dissolved organic matter (DOM) from natural and anthropogenic origins. During my previous trajectories, I addressed basic questions from individual to ecosystem level on sponge feeding ecology and metabolism, with particular emphasis on sponge communities from temperate shallow to polar deep-sea water. I acquired a deep understanding of the sponge metabolism (feeding, pumping and respiration) in different habitats and the role sponges play in processing carbon and organic matter. My research agenda for the next three years has the overall aim to advance our understanding of dissolved organic carbon cycling by marine sponges. In particular, I plan to challenge sponges to remove/transform organic pollutants from anthropogenic waste (e.g., dissolved organic carbon from plastic leakage). I use a combination of targeted bulk (absorption and fluorescent) and untargeted (mass spectrometry) approaches for characterizing the DOM and stable isotope probing technique to explore the fate of DOM excreted by the sponges in the food web.