Mary Ann Moran, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia
- Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia
- Collaborated with JGI since 2007
We have been working with JGI on metatranscriptomic studies, using gene expression data to link activity, taxonomy, and function within marine microbial communities; and on model organism studies of bacteria-phytoplankton interactions in the ocean. The goal of our research is to identify factors influencing the microbial cycling of carbon and sulfur.
Marine bacteria preside over the fate of one of the largest active organic matter reservoirs on Earth. We are seeking to better characterize the role they play in the release of climate-relevant carbon and sulfur gases from the ocean to the atmosphere.
JGI has been a major partner in our applications of functional genomics techniques in marine microbial ecology. We rely on the expertise of JGI scientists on topics ranging from sequencing methodologies to data assembly and analysis. IMG is a great resource in our research, and also in my graduate-level course focusing on integrating genomics into microbial ecology research; the students find the tools intuitive and easy to use.