Research Features

These short articles and interviews feature OSU research related to the subsurface biosphere.

• New Research Coordination Network--TerreGenome: With strong international and interdisciplinary collaboration, this RCN was established to pursue the sequencing goal and to facilitate activities that will increase our knowledge and understanding of the soil metagenome. For more information, see the TerraGenome website. Their poster, titled TerraGenome—The International Soil Metagenome Network, introduces the program and provides an outline of activities and structure. 

• Geomicrobiology of Marine Sediment Containing Methane: Read a short web interview where recent PhD graduate Brandon Briggs describes his research on methane hydrates in deep marine sediments. Brandon is now a post-doc at Miami University in Ohio, and has co-authored two recent papers with his OSU doctoral adviser Rick Colwell.

• Drug Discovery from Soil Bacteria: Attendees of the SBI internship poster session in September had the opportunity to see this poster by SBI intern Elisa Alphandary. It detailed her study on the potential use of soil bacteria in the subsurface biosphere for medicinal uses. Her project was part of a larger search for new antibiotics and drugs to fight human diseases led by her SBI internship mentor Taifo Mahmud, associate professor of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy. Read more in Terra about Taifo's research.

• New OSU Project Investigates the Biodiversity of Deep Life - (posted February 11, 2011) - Professor of oceanography Rick Colwell describes a new pilot grant from the Sloan Foundation to characterize the diversity of life in deep subsurface environments.

• A 3D visualization tool for particle transport - (posted November 2, 2010) Web interview with Naoyuki Ochiai, a recent PhD student in Crop and Soil Science on his research paper in the Vadose Zone Journal on the use of micromodels and epi-fluorescence microscopy to visualize the movement of contaminants or plant pathogens through soils and other porous media.

• Modeling Bioremediation of High Concentrations of TCE - (posted October 4, 2010) Web interview with former environmental engineering and Subsurface Biosphere IGERT graduate student Andrew Sabalowsky about two research papers in the October issue of Biotechnology and Bioengineering. The papers propose a new model for why bioremediation of the groundwater contaminant TCE slows when contaminant concentrations are very high. 

• Profile of Julie Pett-Ridge new assistant professor in the OSU Department of Crop and Soil Science (posted November 5, 2009).

• Poster Session Showcases Research by 2009 SBI Undergraduate Interns (posted September 10, 2009)

• OSU Research on the Role of Northwest Forests in the Global Carbon Cycle - (posted July 9, 2009) Web interview with Beverly Law, OSU Professor of Global Change Forest Science.

• Dorthe Wildenschild Plans for a Sabbatical in Denmark and Australia - (posted June 5, 2009) The newly tenured faculty member in environmental engineering is an expert in the micro-scale processes that control how water and pollution move through soil and aquifers.

• Monitoring Soil Microbial Communities as an Indicator of Soil Quality - (posted May 4, 2009) Soil Science Professors Dave Myrold and Peter Bottomley discuss the concept of soil quality, its link to soil microbiology and a series of recent and forthcoming papers they co-authored with Ph.D. graduate Guilherme Chaer.

• Brian Wood, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, Explains Upscaling - (posted April 2, 2009)

• Developing a Biosensor to Increase Wastewater Treatment Efficiency - Part II (posted February 4, 2009) - Tyler Radniecki, a post-doctoral researcher in environmental engineering, describes the latest research efforts of an interdisciplinary OSU team working to develop microbial biosensors that could one day increase the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants or monitor soil and groundwater contamination.

• Benthic Microbial Fuel Cells (posted January 8, 2009) - Mark Nielsen, a doctoral student in Oceanography, describes benthic microbial fuel cells, devices that use sea floor microbes to generate electricity and could one day be used to power oceanographic instruments. 

• A Graduate Student's Perspective on 7th International Symposium for Subsurface Microbiology in Shizuoka, Japan (posted December 3, 2008) - Ellen Swogger, a PhD student in environmental engineering, describes her experience at this meeting in November 2008.

• A New Grant to Study Carbon Dynamics in Forest Soils (posted December 3, 2008) - In September 2008, Kate Lajtha, professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, received a five year grant to continue studies of carbon storage and accumulation in forest soils at the Andrews Experimental Forest. In this Web feature, she describes the project.

• Reflections on the Earth's Subsurface Biosphere IGERT Program (posted October 14, 2008) - The program provided two-year fellowships, special courses and research opportunities to 34 graduate students at Oregon State and Portland State Universities. Read a Web feature that describes some of the highlights of the program and some reflections of faculty members as the program drew to a close.

• A "Smart Tracer" to detect Suburface Microbiological Activity (posted September 11, 2008) - Geosciences professor Roy Haggerty discusses his work to develop a “smart tracer” that can detect microbiological activity in stream and groundwater systems.

• 2008 SBI Interns Gain Hands-on Research Experience (posted August 7, 2008) - Read about some of the projects and experiences of SBI undergraduate interns.

• OSU's Mass Spectrometry Facility and Microbial Proteomics (posted June 4, 2008) - An overview of proteomics capabilities of the OSU Mass Spectrometry facility with an emphasis on bottom up proteomics and the work of Sarah Sowell, a doctoral student in Molecular and Cellular Biology. 

• Spice Up Your Subsurface Research with a Little Sushi and Sumo (posted April 2, 2008) - A conversation with Rick Colwell (College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences) about the upcoming International Symposium for Subsurface Microbiology (ISSM) in Shizuoka, Japan.

• OSU’s Confocal Microscope Facility (posted March 10, 2008) - An overview of this shared facility operated by the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing and the Environmental Health Science Center.

• High-Throughput DNA Sequencing Technology at OSU (posted January 15, 2008) - Assistant professor Jeff Chang (Botany and Plant Pathology) discusses OSU's new Illumina 1G Genome Analyzer, some of its applications, and the logistics to get started.

• Developing a Biosensor to Increase Waste Water Treatment Efficiency (posted December 6, 2007) - A conversation with Botany and Plant Pathology researchers Dan Arp and Barbara Gvakharia.

• IGERT students write a review paper on anaerobic oxidation of methane (posted November 12, 2007) - Features a graduate student team from the OSU/PSU Earth’s Subsurface Biosphere IGERT program.

• Nitrogen cycling and microbial communities in forest soils (posted June 7, 2007) - Features Stephanie Boyle, a Subsurface Biosphere IGERT student who recently defended her Ph.D. in Soil Science.

• Forest wildfire effects on soil microbial communities (posted May 3, 2007) - Features Forest Science student Cassie Hebel, who recently defended her M.S. thesis.

• Bio-barriers for groundwater remediation (posted April 2, 2007) - Features Mandy Michalsen, a Subsurface Biosphere IGERT student who recently completed her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering.

• Profile of Markus Kleber, SBI faculty member in Soil Microbiology and Chemistry (posted February 27, 2007).

• Molybdenum isotopes in marine sediments (posted February 6, 2007) - Features Rebecca Poulson, a Subsurface Biosphere IGERT student and Oceanography doctoral student.

• A comparison of nitrite producing soil bacteria (posted January 11, 2007) - Features Anne Taylor, a Subsurface Biosphere IGERT student and Environmental Engineering doctoral student.

• Microbial experiments 450 meters underground (posted December 10, 2006) - Features Mark Nielsen, a Subsurface Biosphere IGERTand Oceanography doctoral student.

• Profile of Dr. Dorthe Wildenschild, SBI faculty member in Environmental Engineering (posted November 6, 2006).

• Profile of Dr. Rick Colwell, SBI faculty member in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences (posted June 1, 2006).

• "Push-pull" tests - an innovative way to study underground microbes (posted April 3, 2006).

• Study of microbial fossils adds to the “Life on Mars” debate (posted March 21, 2006).

• Mapping the Genome of Nitrobacter winogradskyi (posted March 10, 2006) - Features Shawn Starkenburg, a Subsurface Biosphere IGERT student and doctoral student in Microbiology.