Are you interested in science and adventure? If so, then check out this blog by my friend and collaborator, Dr. David J. Kieber of SUNY ESF, as he attempts to unravel the mysteries of acrylate formation in a tropical paradise (Richard Gump Research Station, Mo’orea, 17°30’00.0″S 149°50’00.0″W).
It’s another exciting week for learning from visiting scholars. If you are available, you’ll want to hear what they have to say:
Exploring the Universe with Gravitational Waves: From the Big Bang to Black Holes
Abstract: There are only two types of waves that can propagate across the universe: Electromagnetic waves and gravitational waves. Galileo initiated electromagnetic astronomy 400 years ago, by pointing a telescope at the sky and discovering the moons of Jupiter. LIGO physicists and engineers initiated gravitational astronomy in 2015, by observing gravitational waves from colliding black holes a billion light years from Earth. By the 2030s, physicists and astronomers will have opened four gravitational “windows” onto the universe, each covering a different frequency band and using a different type of gravitational-wave detector; and they will be using gravitational waves to observe the big-bang birth of our Universe and the first one-second of our Universe’s life.
Building a Deep Diving Mammal: Insights through the investigation of strandings
Dr. Pabst will be this week’s OAC speaker. Dr. Pabst is a marine mammal physiologist at UNCW and is the current president of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Her work investigates how the mammalian body is functionally adapted to the marine environment and focuses on musculoskeletal design and thermoregulatory function in cetaceans. https://uncw.edu/bio/faculty_
Embrace the Change!
Abstract: A growing global population, continuing industrialization, and continuing reliance on fossil fuels are combining to create a number of threats to natural ecosystems and to sustainability of human processes. These impacts will affect where we live, how we feed ourselves, and other important measures of quality of life. While the solutions to climate change are rather daunting, there are a multitude of reasons for optimism, and associated opportunities. Indeed, there are great opportunities for personal leadership, for business development, contributions to the economy, to sustainable development, and to quality of life. Technical developments are enabling the identification of a wide array of viable paths to carbon-free energy production and transportation systems. We have the tools needed to change the world, to rebuild healthier cities, and to better protect ourselves from natural and human-derived hazards, and to build resilience to rapid change. But equally exciting is the fact that New York and Stony Brook University can lead in many ways, and in this talk, Dr. Shepson will encourage us all to do that. We can be the change we want to see in the world, and making it happen will be exciting!
Want to know how to explicitly map the fields in the AdS symmetric theory to those in the conformally symmetric theory and extend this calculation to other symmetries? Then check out the latest work by my hometown hero, Dr. Jeffrey Hazboun.
Interested in the production, fate, and radiocarbon (14C) signatures of primary marine aerosol (PMA)? Attending the 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting in beautiful Portland, Oregon? Then come to room B113-B115 of the Oregon Convention Center at 3:24 pm on Thursday, Feb 15 to hear our colleague, the inestimable Dr. David Kieber, reveal the state of the science and results from our team’s 2016 North Atlantic cruise. The abstract (AI43A-08) and plain language summary are included below to whet your appetite.
David J Kieber, Steven R Beaupre, William C Keene, Michael S Long, Amanda Ann Frossard, Joanna D Kinsey, Patrick Duplessis, John R Maben, Xi Lu, Rachel Chang, Yuting Zhu, and John Bisgrove
Oceanographers and atmospheric scientists are quite interested in primary marine aerosol (PMA) production and processing from multiple perspectives ranging from atmospheric chemistry, cloud physics, and Earth’s radiation balance to the oceanic carbon budget. Despite the recognized importance of PMA in the ocean-atmosphere system and decades of research, fundamental aspects of production, composition, and evolution remain highly uncertain and subject to controversy. Some of these uncertainties and controversies stem from long-held assumptions and others from inadequate knowledge of multiphase physics coupled with inherent limitations in generating and observing PMA. For example, it is widely assumed that marine organic matter (OM) associated with PMA is derived primarily from recent biological activity in the photic zone, that bubble size spectra control corresponding PMA size spectra, and that the sea-surface microlayer is the major source of OM in PMA. This presentation will highlight important uncertainties and recent findings regarding PMA generation, composition, and evolution obtained for PMA produced in a high capacity generator at two biologically-productive and two oligotrophic hydrographic stations in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean during a research cruise aboard the R/V Endeavor (Sep – Oct 2016).
When waves break and bubbles burst at the ocean’s surface, they inject particles into the atmosphere that contain sea salt and organic matter. Oceanographers and atmospheric scientists are quite interested in how these particles (aerosols) affect cloud physics, climate, and the chemistry of the atmosphere and oceans. Despite their expected importance, there are large uncertainties regarding fundamental aspects of production, composition, and evolution of these aerosols. This presentation will highlight important uncertainties and recent findings regarding marine aerosols produced at sea during a research cruise in the Northwestern Atlantic Ocean in the fall 2016.
Our full text, open-access, manuscript, “Single-Cell Growth Rates in Photoautotrophic Populations Measured by Stable Isotope Probing and Resonance Raman Microspectrometry” just reached a new milestone: over 1000 views since its publication in August! If you, too, are interested in this application and/or the incredible Raman capabilities right here at Stony Brook University, then I encourage you to visit the homepages of our NAno-RAMAN Molecular Imaging Laboratory and its director, Prof. Gordon Taylor.
Our full text, open-access, manuscript is now available from Frontiers in Microbiology. Thanks to Gordon Taylor and his team for putting together a great project:
Taylor, G. T., E. A. Suter, Z. Q. Li, S. Chow, D. Stinton, T. Zaliznyak, and S. R. Beaupré. (2017). Single-Cell Growth Rates in Photoautotrophic Populations Measured by Stable Isotope Probing and Resonance Raman Microspectrometry. Frontiers in Microbiology 8. http://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01449
Abstract: “A new method to measure growth rates of individual photoautotrophic cells by combining stable isotope probing (SIP) and single-cell resonance Raman microspectrometry is introduced. This report explores optimal experimental design and the theoretical underpinnings for quantitative responses of Raman spectra to cellular isotopic composition. Resonance Raman spectra of isogenic cultures of the cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp., grown in 13C-bicarbonate revealed linear covariance between wavenumber (cm−1) shifts in dominant carotenoid Raman peaks and a broad range of cellular 13C fractional isotopic abundance. Single-cell growth rates were calculated from spectra-derived isotopic content and empirical relationships. Growth rates among any 25 cells in a sample varied considerably; mean coefficient of variation, CV, was 29 ± 3% (σ/x), of which only ~2% was propagated analytical error. Instantaneous population growth rates measured independently by in vivo fluorescence also varied daily (CV ≈ 53%) and were statistically indistinguishable from single-cell growth rates at all but the lowest levels of cell labeling. SCRR censuses of mixtures prepared from Synechococcus sp. and T. pseudonana (a diatom) populations with varying 13C-content and growth rates closely approximated predicted spectral responses and fractional labeling of cells added to the sample. This approach enables direct microspectrometric interrogation of isotopically- and phylogenetically-labeled cells and detects as little as 3% changes in cellular fractional labeling. This is the first description of a non-destructive technique to measure single-cell photoautotrophic growth rates based on Raman spectroscopy and well-constrained assumptions, while requiring few ancillary measurements.”
According to a recent Brookings Report, Stony Brook University ranks #4 among US public universities providing high mobility to students, and hiqh research. And, according to Schools.com, Stony Brook ranks #1 among 4-year colleges in New York based on costs, program availability, graduation rates, and more. Go Seawolves!
How do you measure the growth rates of single cells? With lasers and isotopes, of course! Just ask Prof. Gordon Taylor and his team at SoMAS. Or, better yet, read our newly accepted manuscript:
Taylor G. T., Suter E. A., Li Z. Q., Chow S., Stinton D., Zaliznyak T. and Beaupré S. R. (2017). Single-Cell Growth Rates in Photoautotrophic Populations Measured by Stable Isotope Probing and Resonance Raman Microspectrometry. Frontiers in Microbiology. Available at: http://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01449
For more information on Raman measurements at Stony Brook University, please visit Prof. Taylor’s NAno-RAMAN Molecular Imaging Laboratory website
Price R. E. and Giovannelli D. (2017) A Review of the Geochemistry and Microbiology of Marine Shallow-Water Hydrothermal Vents. In Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Elsevier. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.09523-3
Congratulations to friends of the lab, Joel Hurowitz (Stony Brook University) and Woody Fischer (Caltech), on their most recent publication:
Hurowitz, J. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Fischer, W. W., McLennan, S. M., Milliken, R. E., Stein, N., et al. (2017). Redox stratification of an ancient lake in Gale crater, Mars. Science, 356(6341), eaah6849. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah6849