Looking at organisms in isolation often proves to be useful to study behavior objectively in most cases. However, it may not paint the accurate picture of what really happens. In Dr. Bollmann’s lab we look at AOB (ammonia oxidizing bacteria) and AOA (ammonia oxidizing archaea) not just in isolation but also how they interact with […]
C30-P: How Oxidative Stress Affects Arctic Communities
Justin and Pamela’s focus for microbiology research specifically looked at the microbial ecology of Antarctic lakes. They were working under the supervision of Dr. Rachael Morgan-Kiss of the Microbiology Department. Their research posed them with two questions focusing on the different types of microbes that can grow in varying Antarctic conditions and how adding oxidative […]
B34-P: Chlamydomonas sp. ICE -MDV growth and photosynthetic ability under various stress conditions
Our field of research primarily includes Microbial Ecology, understanding microbial community structure and metabolic diversity in ecosystems based on the nutrients and environmental conditions that primarily drive the ecosystem functions. Antarctic lakes are a perfect resource for studying microorganisms, since the food web in the lake ecosystems consists of microorganisms that have acclimatized to extreme […]
A05-P: Going Viral: Using Viral Genes to Sensitize Human Cancer Cells to Medical Intervention
This investigation aims to gather foundational knowledge for harnessing viral genes to combat cancer cell resistance to traditional cancer therapies such as radiation and chemotherapy. Our study asks if it is possible to improve the cancer-killing capacity of drugs like etoposide by inactivating cellular proteins that cause resistance to chemotherapy through activation of DNA repair. […]
C05-P: Metagenomic Analysis of Ammonia Oxidizer and Heterotrophic Bacteria Co-Cultures
Microbial ecology seeks to understand and characterize microbial community structure. Around 99% of microbes have yet to be cultured in the lab, as they require conditions we are unable to imitate. To circumvent this problem, researchers have developed a method to sequence all the genetic material of an environmental sample. This method, called metagenomic sequencing, […]
C27-P: MBI 475: Testing Heat Stress Resilience in Antarctic Microbial Communities Isolated from Lake Fryxell
As in various other natural environments, the mixed communities of microbes occupying the Antarctic lakes are marked by dynamic interactions between two important groups of microorganisms, the protists and the heterotrophic bacteria. The community structure in the lake habitat is composed of microorganisms that operate a simple food web in a physically and chemically stratified […]
B31-P: Comparing Microbial Parasitic Protists and Predators in Antarctic and Temperate Lakes
Parasitic protists are microbes that invade species and derive substances from them; this can be a positive, negative or neutral relationship (Baron 1996). Microbial predators kill other microbes to use for energy and a carbon source (Perez et. al. 2015). They are vital parts of the Antarctic and temperate lake food webs. It is important […]
A06-P: Prevention of Apoptosis By Chlamydia
Pamela Lewis, a student of Dr. Joseph Carlin’s lab of the Microbiology Department and Director of the Mallory-Wilson Center for Healthcare Education at Miami University, is a microbiology major who is interested in studying Chlamydia trachomatis. She is interested in seeing how HeLa cells infected with C. trachomatis are avoiding apoptosis. Because of this, she […]
A33-P: MBI 475/575: High Salinity Condition (U6)
Antarctic ecosystems are one of the few places where mankind has yet to significantly disturb the biogeochemical cycling of microorganisms. The goal of this study was to subject samples from Lake Fryxell, an Antractic freshwater lake, to high salinity conditions in order to observe compositional changes in the microbial communities and detect resilience. We conducted […]
C29-P: Nutrient Deficiency Treatment on an Enrichment Culture from Lake Fryxell
Novel bacteria taken from the Antarctic lake, specifically from Lake Fryxell is tested under a nutrient deficient stress with the purpose of learning about the diversity of microbial communities. The goal of the research is to observe the community structure under nutrient deficient conditions and how these conditions affect the original enrichment culture. The growth […]