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NAME ADVISOR E-MAIL UNDERGRADUATE
Chris Gaby Buckley jcg45 Univ. of Tenn--Knoxville
My research is concerned with the diversity of microorganisms present in soil. My first rotation has been in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Buckley, a professor in the Crop and Soil Science department. New computational methods for estimating the diversity of microorganisms present in soil brings the number of unique species to the order of millions (Gans et al., 2005), whereas previous estimates had been on the order of tens of thousands (Torsvik et al., 1990). These methods rely upon previously constructed species diversity vs. abundance curves (originally worked out for organisms in the macrobiotic realm) to determine the number of species present at low abundance. Difficulties stemming from the limitations of techniques for identifying the yet-to-be-cultured microorganisms existing in soil have made construction of an accurate species diversity vs. abundance curve elusive. Previous estimations of diversity have been formulated from DNA reassociation rates, first pioneered for application to microbial communities by Torsvik. The technique I am testing combines buoyant density gradient centrifugation with TRFLP analysis of gradient fractions. This combination should allow a much greater number of organisms to be resolved than by just TRFLP analysis alone. Whereas many organisms will generate a TRF of the same length, these may be resolved by their GC content using the buoyant density centrifugation. Once our data is generated, we hope to construct a more accurate species diversity vs. abundance curve that will be compared to existing ones to determine a best fit.
Buck Hanson Madsen bth24 Univ. of Oregon (M.S.)
From now until the end of human existence, scientists who develop connections between ecosystem networks will be at the heart of understanding the accelerating global changes occurring in all spheres of human influence. This knowledge is crucial for administering sound response to the ecological impacts caused by our species and how those responses will contribute to further perturbations of interconnected networks. Engaging knowledge of global processes, systems, and networks will be increasingly important to understanding the future of our global community. I am interested in furthering my scientific education and career with the pursuit of a graduate level study focusing on the interactive physical, chemical, and biological systems that contribute to planetary thermodynamic processes. Closed systems in classical thermodynamics have been investigated where energy inputs into chemical environments are equivalent to outputs with a thermodynamic directionality to maximize entropy. Such mechanistic and reductionistic perspectives are rarely applicable to living systems. Living systems are fundamentally highly ordered and organized, from single celled bacteria to synergistic ecosystems. Monera, protoctista, fungi, plantae, animalia, and their varied ecosystems are inherently far from equilibrium phenomenon, utilizing energy not only for chemical reactions but also for spontaneous emergent self-organization. All living systems must maintain their order (stable structure) in the face of a constant flux of matter and energy passing through them, and at the same time dissipate entropy into their environment. And in the same manner, just as one person’s junk is another’s treasure, dissipative metabolic pathways can be and most often are tightly coupled in their chemical exchanges establishing links between nonlinear autopoietic networks. In the relatively short amount of time I have been studying science it has come quickly to my attention that investigation of complex living systems requires an interdisciplinary approach. The study of life, and what the nature of life is, are difficult to put your finger on, eluding a definition rarely found in biological texts. It begs philosophical, ethical, and scientific pondering, and can exist on scales from nanometers to kilometers. I am very excited by the opportunities available to interdisciplinary scientists today; and I am eager to seek answers to my own questions about the past, present, and future of earth's ecosystems.
Angela Hartsock Shapleigh akh37 The Ohio State University
I graduated from Ohio State University in 2004 with a B.S. in microbiology. While at Ohio State I investigated the role of a RubisCO-like protein in Allochromatium vinosum. Currently, I am investigating the regulation of the nitrite reductase gene in Rhodobacter sphaeroides.
Anna-Barbara Kleijn Helmann agk26 Friedrich-Schiller Univ. (M.S.)
After my studies of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena (Germany) I worked on a research project (similar to a M.Sc. project) in Dr. van Veens lab at the University of Cambridge (UK) on multidrug resistance and ABC transporters. Now, in Dr. Helmann's lab, I study the mechanism of action of the lipopeptide daptomycin, and how B.subtilis (as a model bacterium) responds to it including pathways of adaptation and resistance.
Zaoping Li Peters zl55 Sichuan University (M.S.)
I graduated from the school of Public Health at Sichuan University, China, with a masters degree in medical science. I have conducted research on the contribution of integron to the development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance found in food-borne bacterial pathogens, such as E.coli and Salmonella spp. Currently, I am interested in mechanisms of bacterial pathogenicity and lateral gene transfer.
David Miller Angert dam67 Hartwick College
Originally from upstate NY, I graduated from Hartwick College in Oneonta in 2005 with a B.A. in Biology. I have conducted research on the communities of microorganisms in the fluid in pitcher plants, the genetics of antibiotic resistant coliforms in rivers and isolation of high molecular weight plasmids from Gram-positive bacteria. I am interested in antibiotic resistance, genetics and ecology.
Uelinton Pinto Winans ump2 University Federal de Viscosa
Uelinton M. Pinto is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Stephen Winans' lab where he studies quorum sensing in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. He received a masters from the Federal University of Vicosa (Brazil), for research on quorum sensing in microorganisms isolated from milk. As an undergraduate student in Food Engineering at the same university he studied food microbiology and quality control.
Annette Rowe Richardson arr36 Univ. of California--Berkeley
I received undergraduate degrees in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Microbiology from the University of California Berkeley, in 2003. There I conducted research on actin utilization in AcMNPV, a virus pathogenic to caterpillars and used as a non-toxic pesticide. As part of an education abroad I studied arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the roots of Costa Rican epiphytic bromeliads. Having worked with both pathogenic and mutualistic microorganisms, I am currently interested in microbial interactions and the tremendous impacts they can have on both macroscopic organisms and the ecosystems in which they live.