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Hire Olivier Z.

United States

USD 60 /hr

PhD Microbiologist | Expert in Grant & Manuscript Writing | $18M+ in Funded Proposals | 25+ publications

Profile Summary

I’m a PhD-trained microbiologist and scientific writer with 10+ years of experience in medical and academic research communication. My expertise lies in microbiology, virology, microbiome science, and the environmental life sciences, with a strong focus on grant proposals, peer-reviewed manuscripts, and technical content for academic, biotech, and nonprofit sectors. I'm currently the lead grant writer at a major university. I’ve supported over $18 million in grant proposals (e.g., NSF, NIH, DOE, Simons Foundation), and have edited and co-authored 20+ scientific publications in leading journals (e.g., Nature Biotechnology, Cell Host&Microbe). I specialize in translating complex research into clear, compelling narratives—whether for high-impact journals or funding agencies—to maximize the impact of your science or product. I'm a native French speaker, so I can translate too. To me, editing is like sculpting—chiseling away until the final piece emerges in its most refined form!

Subject Matter Expertise

• ☆ Computational Biology
• ☆ Microbiology
• ☆ Microbiome Research
• ☆ Molecular Biology
• ☆ Omics
• ☆ Comparative Genomics
• ☆ Genomics
• ☆ Marine Biology
• ☆ Ecology
• ☆ Marine Ecology
• ☆ Aquatic Ecology
• ☆ Microbial Ecology
• ☆ Taxonomy/Classification
• ☆ Hypothesis
• ☆ Peer Review
• ☆ Research Methodology
• ☆ Literature Search
• ☆ Medical Writing
• ☆ Medical Content Writing
• ☆ Healthcare Communications
• ☆ Research Summaries & Abstracts
• ☆ Medical Copywriting
• ☆ Technical & Scientific Writing
• ☆ Journal Selection
• ☆ Manuscript & Journal Article Writing
• ☆ Experimental Protocols
• ☆ White Papers
• ☆ Textbook Content Writing
• ☆ Science Communication
• ☆ Literature Review
• ☆ Traditional/Narrative Literature Review
• ☆ Systematic Literature Review
• ☆ Scientific Proofreading & Editing
• ☆ Proofreading & Editing
• ☆ Language Translation
• ☆ Grant Writing

Services

• Writing
• Research
• Consulting

Writing Medical Writing, Copywriting, General Proofreading & Editing, Translation

Research Scientific and Technical Research, Systematic Literature Review

Consulting Scientific and Technical Consulting

Work Experience

Senior Grants Manager

The Ohio State University

January 2021 - Present

Postdoctoral Researcher

The Ohio State University

February 2018 - Present

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

University of the Western Cape Faculty of Natural Science

January 2016 - December 2017

Education

Ph.D. Microbiology (Department of Microbiology)

University of Pretoria

January 2013 - December 2015

MSc. Microbiology (Departement of Microbiology and Plant Pathology)

University of Pretoria

January 2011 - December 2012

BSc. (Hons) Microbiology (Departement of Microbiology and Plant Pathology)

University of Pretoria

January 2010 - December 2010

BSc. Microbiology (Departement of Microbiology and Plant Pathology)

University of Pretoria

January 2006 - November 2009

Certifications

• Certification details not provided.

Publications

PREPRINT

Olivier Zablocki, Benjamin Bolduc, Dann Turner, Ho Bin Jang, Jiarong Guo, Evelien M Adriaenssens, Bas E. Dutilh, Matthew B Sullivan (2025). Scalable and systematic hierarchical virus taxonomy with vConTACT3 .

Olivier Zablocki, Alex Greenlon, Ella Sieradzki, Benjamin J. Koch, Megan M. Foley, Jeffrey A. Kimbrel, Bruce A. Hungate, Steven J. Blazewicz, Erin E. Nuccio, Christine L. Sun, et al.(2022). Quantitative stable-isotope probing (qSIP) with metagenomics links microbial physiology and activity to soil moisture in Mediterranean-climate grassland ecosystems . Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Olivier Zablocki, Eric G. Sakowski, Keith Arora-Williams, Funing Tian, Ahmed A Zayed, Matthew B. Sullivan, Sarah P. Preheim (2020). Capturingin situVirus-Host Range and Interaction Dynamics through Gene Fusion with epicPCR .

Olivier Zablocki, Marie Burris, Natalie Solonenko, Ben Temperton(2019). Long Read Viromics Amplification Library Preparation (VirION 2) v1 . {ZappyLab}, Inc.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Olivier Zablocki, Ho Bin Jang, Lauren Chittick, Yueh-Fen Li, Courtney M Sanderson, Alfonso Carrillo, Ger van den Engh, Matthew B Sullivan (2022). Viral tag and grow: a scalable approach to capture and characterize infectious virus–host pairs . ISME Communications.

Olivier Zablocki, Guillermo Dominguez-Huerta, Ahmed A. Zayed, James M. Wainaina, Jiarong Guo, Funing Tian, Akbar Adjie Pratama, Benjamin Bolduc, Mohamed Mohssen, Eric Pelletier, et al.(2022). Diversity and ecological footprint of Global Ocean RNA viruses . Science. 376. (6598). p. 1202--1208. American Association for the Advancement of Science ({AAAS})

Zablocki, Olivier, Zayed, Ahmed A., Wainaina, James M., Dominguez-Huerta, Guillermo, Pelletier, Eric, Guo, Jiarong, Mohssen, Mohamed, Tian, Funing, Pratama, Akbar Adjie, Bolduc, Benjamin, et al. (2022). Cryptic and abundant marine viruses at the evolutionary origins of Earth's RNA virome . Science.

Zablocki, Olivier, Sokol, Noah W., Slessarev, Eric, Marschmann, Gianna L., Nicolas, Alexa, Blazewicz, Steven J., Brodie, Eoin L., Firestone, Mary K., Foley, Megan M., Hestrin, Rachel, et al. (2022). Life and death in the soil microbiome: how ecological processes influence biogeochemistry . Nature Reviews Microbiology.

Zablocki, Olivier, Dominguez-Huerta, Guillermo, Zayed, Ahmed A., Wainaina, James M., Guo, Jiarong, Tian, Funing, Pratama, Akbar Adjie, Bolduc, Benjamin, Mohssen, Mohamed, Pelletier, Eric, et al. (2022). Diversity and ecological footprint of Global Ocean RNA viruses . Science.

Zablocki, Olivier, Jang, Ho Bin, Chittick, Lauren, Li, Yueh-Fen, Sanderson, Courtney M., Carrillo, Alfonso, van den Engh, Ger, Sullivan, Matthew B. (2022). Viral tag and grow: a scalable approach to capture and characterize infectious virus-host pairs . ISME Communications.

Olivier Zablocki, Benjamin Bolduc, Jiarong Guo, Ahmed A Zayed, Dean Vik, Paramvir Dehal, Elisha M Wood-Charlson, Adam Arkin, Nirav Merchant, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, et al. (2021). iVirus 2.0: Cyberinfrastructure-supported tools and data to power DNA virus ecology . ISME Communications.

Zablocki, Olivier, Bolduc, Benjamin, Guo, Jiarong, Zayed, Ahmed A., Vik, Dean, Dehal, Paramvir, Wood-Charlson, Elisha M., Arkin, Adam, Merchant, Nirav, Pett-Ridge, Jennifer, et al. (2021). iVirus 2.0: Cyberinfrastructure-supported tools and data to power DNA virus ecology . ISME Communications.

Zablocki, Olivier, Sakowski, Eric G., Arora-Williams, Keith, Tian, Funing, Zayed, Ahmed A., Sullivan, Matthew B., Preheim, Sarah P. (2021). Interaction dynamics and virus-host range for estuarine actinophages captured by epicPCR . Nature Microbiology.

Zablocki, Olivier, Michelsen, Michelle, Burris, Marie, Solonenko, Natalie, Warwick-Dugdale, Joanna, Ghosh, Romik, Pett-Ridge, Jennifer, Sullivan, Matthew B., Ben Temperton (2021). VirION2: a short- and long-read sequencing and informatics workflow to study the genomic diversity of viruses in nature . PeerJ.

Zablocki, Olivier, Gregory, Ann C., Zayed, Ahmed A., Howell, Allison, Bolduc, Benjamin, Sullivan, Matthew B. (2020). The Gut Virome Database Reveals Age-Dependent Patterns of Virome Diversity in the Human Gut . Cell Host & Microbe.

Olivier Zablocki, Ho Bin Jang, Benjamin Bolduc, Jens H. Kuhn, Simon Roux, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, J. Rodney Brister, Andrew M Kropinski, Mart Krupovic, Rob Lavigne, et al.(2019). Taxonomic assignment of uncultivated prokaryotic virus genomes is enabled by gene-sharing networks . Nature Biotechnology. 37. (6). p. 632--639. Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}

Wilpiszeski, Regina L., Aufrecht, Jayde A., Retterer, Scott T., Sullivan, Matthew B., Graham, David E., Pierce, Eric M., Zablocki, Olivier D., Palumbo, Anthony, V, Elias, Dwayne A. (2019). Soil Aggregate Microbial Communities: Towards Understanding Microbiome Interactions at Biologically Relevant Scales . Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Zablocki, Olivier, Jang, Ho Bin, Bolduc, Benjamin, Kuhn, Jens H., Roux, Simon, Adriaenssens, Evelien M., Brister, J. Rodney, Kropinski, Andrew M., Krupovic, Mart, Lavigne, Rob, et al. (2019). Taxonomic assignment of uncultivated prokaryotic virus genomes is enabled by gene-sharing networks . Nature Biotechnology.

Olivier Zablocki, Leonardo van Zyl, Marla Trindade(2018). Biogeography and taxonomic overview of terrestrial hot spring thermophilic phages . Extremophiles. 22. (6). p. 827--837. Springer Nature

Olivier Zablocki, Leonardo Van Zyl, Bronwyn Kirby, Marla Trindade (2018). Correction: Zablocki, O.; et al. Diversity of dsDNA Viruses in a South African Hot Spring Assessed by Metagenomics and Microscopy. Viruses 2017, 9, 348 . Viruses.

(2018). Correction: Zablocki, O.; <em>et al</em>. Diversity of dsDNA Viruses in a South African Hot Spring Assessed by Metagenomics and Microscopy. <em>Viruses</em> 2017, <em>9</em>, 348 . Viruses.

Olivier Zablocki, Leonardo Van Zyl, Bronwyn Kirby, Marla Trindade (2017). Diversity of dsDNA Viruses in a South African Hot Spring Assessed by Metagenomics and Microscopy . Viruses.

(2017). Diversity of dsDNA Viruses in a South African Hot Spring Assessed by Metagenomics and Microscopy . Viruses.

Olivier Zablocki, Vincent Scola, Jean-Baptiste Ramond, Aline Frossard, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Riegardt M. Johnson, Mary Seely, Don A. Cowan (2017). Namib Desert Soil Microbial Community Diversity, Assembly, and Function Along a Natural Xeric Gradient . Microbial Ecology.

Olivier Zablocki, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Aline Frossard, Mary Seely, Jean-Baptiste Ramond, Don Cowan (2017). Metaviromes of Extracellular Soil Viruses along a Namib Desert Aridity Gradient . Genome Announcements.

(2015). Diversity and ecology of viruses in hyperarid desert soils . Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Zablocki, O. D. J., Rybicki, E. P., & Cowan, D. A. (2014). First Report of a Potyvirus Infecting Albuca rautanenii in the Namib Desert. Plant Disease, 98(12), 1749-1749 .

Zablocki, O., van Zyl, L., Adriaenssens, E. M., Rubagotti, E., Tuffin, M., Cary, S. C., & Cowan, D. (2014). High-level diversity of tailed Phages, eukaryote-associated viruses, and virophage-like elements in the metaviromes of Antarctic soils. Applied and environmental microbiology, 80(22), 6888-6897 .

Olivier Zablocki, Gerhard Pietersen(2014). Characterization of a novel citrus tristeza virus genotype within three cross-protecting source GFMS12 sub-isolates in South Africa by means of Illumina sequencing . Arch Virol. 159. (8). p. 2133--2139. Springer Science $\mathplus$ Business Media

Olivier Zablocki, Lonnie van Zyl, Evelien M Adriaenssens, Enrico Rubagotti, Marla Tuffin, Stephen C Cary, Don Cowan(2014). Niche-dependent genetic diversity in Antarctic metaviromes . Bacteriophage. 4. (4). p. e980125. Informa {UK} Limited

Olivier Zablocki, Katherine Anne Scott, Quinsile Hlela, David Read, Stephanus van Vuuren, Gerhard Pietersen(2012). Genotype composition of populations of grapefruit-cross-protecting citrus tristeza virus strain GFMS12 in different host plants and aphid-transmitted sub-isolates . Arch Virol. 158. (1). p. 27--37. Springer Science $\mathplus$ Business Media

OTHER

Olivier Zablocki, Michelle Michelsen, Marie Burris, Natalie Solonenko, Joanna Warwick-Dugdale, Romik Ghosh, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Matthew B. Sullivan, Ben Temperton(2020). VirION2: a short- and long-read sequencing and informatics workflow to study the genomic diversity of viruses in nature . Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Olivier Zablocki, Ann C. Gregory, Allison Howell, Benjamin Bolduc, Matthew B. Sullivan(2019). The human gut virome database . Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory