Publication in Environmental Microbiology
23 August, 2023. An article was published describing Vibrio cyclitrophicus L- and S-strain biofilm formation and association with marine Acartia tonsa copepods. The publication stems from graduate research by the lab alumnus Ryan Nuttall. Work with Green Fluorescent Protein-labelled strains demonstrated that small genetic differences correlate with the initial colonization process of these Vibrio strains on marine copepods and that calcium is a major driver of strain specific differences in their biofilm formation. These intriguing results provide insights into the complexity of Vibrio spp. association with marine copepods and particles.
Publication of New Oceanic Global Database of Nitrogen fixation
15 August, 2023. An article was published in Earth System Science Data: Global oceanic diazotroph database version 2 and elevated estimate of global oceanic N2 fixation. The article is a large effort by Shao et al., and includes over 90 contributors.
Microbially Influenced Corrosion Study 2023 highlighted
Our study at the Lloyd Center shoreline was highlighted on the Center’s website:
Study at Lloyd Center – Microbially-Influenced Corrosion in Marine Sediments
Recent Defense
On May 10, 2023 Stephanie Richard successfully defended her M.S. in Marine Biology- Impact of climate change on copepod microbiome. Congratulations Stephanie!
Recent and upcoming conferences
Stephanie Richard presented her work Impacts of climate change on copepod microbiome in the recent Microbiome conference in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York (Nov 2022)
Kenny Boyle presented his research Microbial community assembly of marine biofilms in the coastal Northwestern Atlantic Ocean in the Sigma Xi conference at Dartmouth, MA in April 2023.
Abhishek Naik presented his research poster at the MUST research meeting in March 2023.
Instrumentation news
New FTIR instrumentation (Nicolet iN10 micro+iZ10) has arrived and has been installed in the lab.
We recently acquired an Agilent Novocyte flow cytometer and a new qPCR instrument.
Funding news
May 2023. New collaborative award: UMass Systems’s Office of Technology Commercialization & Ventures Technology Development Research Grant. Long-lasting super-hydrophobic surface for reducing marine biofouling. PI: H Ling (UMD Mechanical Engineering), Co-PI P Moisander.
Spring 2023. PADI foundation awarded us a grant for a pilot study on microplastics
Spring 2023. A new seed funding grant ($22,134) to investigate Microbially Influenced Corrosion in marine sediments. The project is collaborative with Ryan Beemer (Civil and Environmental Engineering).
Fall 2022. Woods Hole Sea Grant awarded us funding for a pilot study on microplastics
2022: Massachusetts Technology Collaborative award is supporting work in parallel with the new Marine and Environmental Biodegradability laboratory at the School of Marine Science
2020-2024 Research continues on Office of Naval Research-funded work on two collaborative projects: Advances in marine technology: New solutions to biofouling and: Antifouling property and lifetime of super-hydrophobic surfaces in marine environment.