Events Calendar

Sonny Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Katherine (Trina) McMahon, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Talk Title: Ecogenomics of freshwater microbial communities

Abstract: Freshwater bacterial communities underpin all biogeochemical cycles in lakes and are outstanding model systems with which to study ecological and evolutionary processes in microbes. We are partnered with the North Temperate Lakes Long Term Ecological Research site and have access to a rich time series of microbial community data extending nearly two decades. In this talk I will compare patterns of microbial community assembly and dynamics in two sharply contrasting lakes using 16S rRNA gene tag sequencing, explore population structure using single cell genomics and metagenomics, and propose a new genomics-based framework for thinking about traits within complex microbial communities.


Biography: My students and I study the microbial ecology of both natural and engineered systems. We use molecular tools to investigate microbial community structure and function in lakes and activated sludge. More recently, we have been using high-frequency environmental sensor networks to measure important variables that we know influence bacterial communities. Sensor data provided through the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (http://www.gleon.org) guides our adaptive sampling efforts and provides rich contextual data for our studies of lake bacterial community ecology. We are particularly interested in phosphorus as a nutrient driving eutrophication, and the role that bacteria play in phosphorus cycling. We are also engaged in metagenomic and post-genomic approaches to dissecting the metabolism of bacteria specialized in the sequestration of phosphorus in activated sludge. This information will ultimately lead to the construction of more predictive mechanistic and ecosystem-scale models to describe such processes as wastewater treatment and freshwater nutrient cycling

Host: Dr. Adam Smith

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes