**About the Editor**

**Martina Schrallhammer** studied Biology at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, where she completed her diploma thesis at the Department of Microbiology. She continued her studies in Zoology and Protistology at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Pisa and received her binational Ph.D. degree in 2010. After a PostDoc at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Technical University of Dresden, Martina established her own research group "Endosymbiosis Group" in 2014 at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg as a fixed-term associate professor (Juniorprofessorin) in Microbiology. Her research is focused on host–symbiont interactions between ciliates and their endosymbionts. She is interested in the altered host phenotype caused by the symbionts as well as its molecular, ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences. Her favorite study organisms are Paramecium spp. and their plethora of bacterial and algal endosymbionts.
