Eric earned his Ph.D. today! He gave an excellent, data-rich seminar – and I couldn’t be more pleased by his work, dedication, and accomplishments. He moves on now to a post-doc position at Los Alamos National Labs – he will be missed at OSU.
Eric’s work on VOCs produced by a diatom. Many of these VOCs are consumed by SAR11, causing the diatom to work 20% harder to keep up with the bacterial demand! Eric compared VOC production by T. pseudonana in monoculture and in co-culture with HTCC1062. He used PTR-ToF/MS and a clever experiment using a hydrocarbon trap to show the impact of VOC consumption on carbon fixation rates. Published in Environmental Microbiology.
Michelle completed her MS in May, 2019 – discovering some very exciting genetic controls of phytoplankton growth rate. Look for the paper on this topic in the near future! Here we are wishing her safe travels (left to right: me, Eric, Michelle, Bryce, James).
The parasitic arsenic cycle!!! This is such a cool discovery about how SAR11 exploits the detoxification efforts of phytoplankton!
https://mbio.asm.org/content/10/2/e00246-19
Here’s our Department’s new newsletter! Cleo and I made the cover, and there’s a nice little blurb on the lab’s work inside.
New paper featuring Lindsay’s work showing Anabaena can be sources of deadly amounts of microcystin. This is a surprising finding because previously Microcystis was thought to be the major microcystin producer. In addition, Lindsay found a large insert in one of the microcystin synthesis genes. Considering that the toxin is produced non-ribosomally, questions remain….
Kelsey’s paper is out!
McBeain and Halsey (2018). Altering phytoplankton growt rates changes their value as food for microzooplankton grazers. Aquatic Microbial Ecology 82:19-29. doi.org/10.3354.ame01880
This was an interesting study that required some pretty amazing skills – well done, Kelsey!
We completed the last of the four cruises in the North Atlantic Ocean. This time, March…whew – action packed, and enormously successful. This time four members of the Halsey lab were aboard (Cleo – who was aboard all four cruises, Bryce, Eric, and myself). The R/V Atlantis sailed out of Puerto Rico, north east to our study site and then back to Woods Hole, MA after almost one month at sea.
I just returned from my first visit to SIO, and it was, of course, wonderful. Great conversations, enthusiastic and motivated students, and the beauty of the ocean in every view. Thank you, thank you to Andy Allen’s lab for the invitation!