Research Overview
I am an ecologist that works across scales to understand the global consequences of microbial interactions. I combine mathematical modeling, data analysis, and insights from lab and field work to investigate how microbes exchange resources and how these interactions affect marine microbial communities and their climate feedbacks.
Micronutrient limitation in antarctica Seas
What is the potential for cobalt (Co) and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) to limit phytoplankton productivity in Antarctica’s seas?
Millimeter scale Phaeocystis antarctica colonies collected in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica aboard the CICLOPS research expedition to the Southern Ocean
Ecophysiology of antarctic phytoplankton
What is the potential for keystone Antarctic phytoplankton species to be limited by micronutrients like iron and vitamin B12?
In the lab, I investigate the changes in growth response, life cycle stage, and proteome of Phaeocystis antarctica under co-limitation by iron and vitamin B12.
resolving key antarctic microbes in global marine ecosystem models
I am developing a model functional type of Phaeocystis antarctica in its single and colonial form to test in a global marine microbial ecosystem model, the MIT Darwin Model.
My current research has been supported in part by Professor Mick Follows, Dr. Mak Saito, Dr. Stephanie Dutkiewicz, and the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, MIT EAPS & PAOC, NSF, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Simons Foundation.
Prior Research
Connecting life cycle analysis with biogeochemistry of soil microbes
Microbe-mediated soil uptake is the largest and least constrained term in the atmospheric hydrogen (H2) budget. We isolated soil microorganisms (actinobacteria) that utilize H2 and assayed their uptake rates. We found that H2 uptake depended on the life cycle stages and that H2 was taken up in strains that contained aerial structures. Our observations suggest that H2 may be an important energy source for soil microbes.
Meredith, L. K., Rao, D., Bosak, T., Klepac‐Ceraj, V., Tada, K. R., Hansel, C. M., ... & Prinn, R. G. (2014). Consumption of atmospheric hydrogen during the life cycle of soil‐dwelling actinobacteria. Environmental microbiology reports, 6(3), 226-238.