Vlastimil Novak is a Research Scientist in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he works in the laboratory of Dr. Trent Northen. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Plant Biotechnology at Mendel University in the Czech Republic. He completed both his Master’s degree in Biotechnology and his Ph.D. at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. His Master’s research focused on identifying transporters of plant specialized metabolites, while his doctoral work examined nutrient cycling in agroecosystems using stable isotope mass spectrometry.

His experimental work focuses on studies of plant–microbe interactions, specifically examining how nutrient availability and root exudation influence the dynamics of bacteria, fungi, and phages in the rhizosphere. His research integrates metabolomics and stable isotope tracing with fabricated ecosystem platforms, such as EcoFAB devices, to enable controlled, mechanistic studies of plant–soil–microbe interactions. He also develops and standardizes protocols for these systems, contributing to improved reproducibility in microbiome research.