EVENT DETAILS
What Do Smaller-Scale Communities Sourced from Terrestrial Environments Look Like?
Currently, I am interested in understanding how microbial communities maintain their stability in a variety of environments. Stability is likely the result of "functional redundancy" via ultra-high levels of microbial community diversity. In this model, an increase in the redundancy of specific functions exhibited by the community contributes to its ability to resist perturbation. My group has created sub-community levels of organization ("minimal communities") in the laboratory from a variety of natural environments, in order to understand the building blocks of stability in these systems (Flynn et al. 2017. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.02321). Furthermore, we have recently completed work on maintaining their growth in the laboratory to validate their stability ("minimal stable communities" [MSCs]) when presented with abiotic perturbations. Unlike synthetic communities, which are created from predetermined associations of microorganisms, the minimal stable communities my group works with are sourced directly from natural environments; they serve as an intermediate between complex natural communities and atomized collections of isolates in the laboratory.My research is directed towards understanding geochemistry related to radioactive waste disposal, environmental restoration, and climate change. My research has focused on coupling laboratory or field studies with state-of-the-art analytical techniques and/or geochemical modeling to determine important rock-water interactions that control water composition and the eventual transport of contaminants. My current focus is on the role that geochemical reactions play in geological sequestration of carbon dioxide.
BioDion began his career as a microbiologist studying the cellulose-degrading capabilities of bacteria from production livestock, making extensive use of anaerobic cultivation buoyed by the then emerging area of comparative microbial genomics. His initial interest in understanding mammalian gastrointestinal function has expanded since then by his ongoing research in environmental systems using metagenomics. Currently, he is particularly interested in understanding how microbial communities maintain their stability in different environments. As a result, his research team is actively involved in creating new approaches for minimizing the complexity of natural microbial communities so that they can be studied in the laboratory.Dion's group has created sub-community levels of organization ("minimal communities") in the laboratory from a variety of environments, in order to understand the building blocks of stability in these systems. Unlike synthetic communities, which are created from predetermined associations of microorganisms, the minimal stable communities his group works with are sourced directly from natural environments; they serve as an intermediate between complex natural communities and atomized collections of isolates in the laboratory.
In addition to his duties at Argonne, Dion is also an Assistant Professor in the Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago and is Director of the Enteric Microbiology Component of the Digestive Diseases Research Core Center there. The focus of his research at both institutions is on understanding how natural microbial communities "boot up" in the first place.
TIME Friday February 15, 2019 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
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CONTACT Tierney Acott tierney-acott@northwestern.edu
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering