麻豆传媒

Dr. Brian Hedlund holds a bachelor鈥檚 degree in biology from the University of Illinois, a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Washington, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Regensburg, Germany. Hedlund was hired at UNLV in 2003 and is currently the Greg Fullmer Endowed Professor of Life Sciences. Hedlund has published over 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has been a principal investigator on more than $6 million in extramural grants from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, and National Science Foundation, including a CAREER award and a large international project funded through the Partnerships for International Science and Education (PIRE) program.

Hedlund's research focuses on the microbiology and biogeochemistry of geothermal ecosystems, the genomic exploration of "microbial dark matter", and the role of the intestinal microbiome in prevention of Clostridium difficile infection. Dr. Hedlund is editor for Antonie van Leeuwenhoek journal, a member of Bergey's Manual Trust, and editor for Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria, the authoritative reference manual for microbial taxonomy. Dr. Hedlund regularly serves on grant panel review boards both domestically and internationally and has taught more than 2,500 students at UNLV.

As a Research Division Faculty Fellow in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Hedlund is engaged in several projects to support and stimulate research productivity on campus. 

My research focuses on the ecology of life in high temperature habitats, particularly terrestrial hot springs. The study of high-temperature ecosystems (>73掳C) is a major research frontier because temperature alters the ecology of these systems in ways that are profoundly important but poorly understood and because some springs are hot spots for novel, uncultivated organisms, so-called biological dark matter.

To work toward a comprehensive understanding of how individual microorganisms operate as parts of high temperature ecosystems, our group employs an integrated approach to microbial ecology, including thermodynamic modeling, spaciotemporal measurements of chemical species of interest in natural samples and microcosms, microbial cultivation and systematics, and genomics. This research will allow us to better understand the foundations of life in hot springs and expand our knowledge of the diversity of life on Earth.

Although much of our research focuses on hot springs of the U.S. Great Basin, we have recently expanded our work to other locations, particularly the Tengchong geothermal region of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. This work is part of the Tengchong PIRE project, which is a large international project funded by the National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program. Goals of the PIRE project are to determine how geographic location and geological setting influence microbial community structure and function and to integrate complex datasets through international cooperation.

Amy Apprill, Ph.D. leads the Microbial Ecology for Ocean Conservation research laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her research examines the contribution of microorganisms to the health and ecology of sensitive animals and ecosystems of the ocean. Dr. Apprill鈥檚 laboratory group uses a combination of field measurements and observations and laboratory experiments and relies on diverse methodology (cultivation, genomics, metagenomics and bioinformatics), as well as collaborations with marine chemists, to understand the microbial symbionts of marine mammals and corals and microbial dynamics within coral reef ecosystems. Examples of Apprill鈥檚 research include using drones to examine the upper respiratory microbiome of whales, founding a U.S.-Cuban collaborative study of microbial biodiversity on pristine Cuban coral reefs and developing field-based sequencing methods to speed up the study of coral disease pathogens. Dr. Apprill鈥檚 work on the Cuban coral reefs was featured in a Project Earth documentary by Fusion television, and her research on the humpback whale microbiome was highlighted in Science magazine鈥檚 鈥榅X Files: Extraordinary Science, Extraordinary Women鈥� video series. Apprill received a B.A. from the University of San Diego, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Hawaii.

Dr. Yanna Liang joined the University at Albany as Professor and Chair in the newly minted Department of Environmental and Sustainable Engineering in Summer 2017. Before Dr. Liang started her academic career in 2007 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in China and the United States for more than eight years. She has secured more than $5 million external research funding from Federal and state agencies, industry and foundation and participated in over $4.63 million projects funded by NSF. She has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal papers and invited book chapters and presented her research through more than 81 conference presentations. As a result of her multidisciplinary work, Dr. Liang has been a regular panelist for NSF, DOE, DoED, NIH, EPA, DOD, USDA and a frequent reviewer for more than 40 scientific journals. Additionally, she is a registered professional engineer, a board certified environmental engineer, an ABET Program Evaluator, an ASCE ExCEED Teaching Fellow, and has won various awards from ASCE, AWRA, and AWMA. 

Her research interests are tied strongly to sustainable environment and energy. Besides working on conventional environmental research topics, such as remediation of organic and inorganic contaminants, water and wastewater treatment, she is passionate about research and development on renewable energy. In addition, to be proactive on protecting our environment, she is interested in understanding the fate and transport of emerging contaminants in different environmental matrices. Specifically, her research interests are:  

Biodegradation and phytoremediation of organic contaminants in subsurface and groundwater
Nanomaterials for environmental clean-up
Microbial ecology in engineered and natural systems
Fate and transport of engineered nanoparticles and emerging contaminants in aquatic and soil environments
Microbial electrochemical cells for CO2 reduction 
Biochemical and thermochemical conversion of renewable feedstocks to biofuels and bio-products 
Water reuse and wastewater treatment

Emily Graham is an quantitative ecosystem ecologist in the Earth and Biological Sciences Division at PNNL and the leader of EMSL's Biogeochemical Transformations Integrated Research Platform. She leads EMSL’s 1000 Soils Pilot and a key member of PNNL’s soil microbiome SFA. She holds a joint faculty position in the School of Biological Sciences at Washington State University.

Research Interests


Microbial Ecology
Organic Matter and Integrated Biogeochemical Cycling
Disturbance and Urban Ecology


Education


PhD in Biogeoscience, Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2015
MS in Biogeoscience, Environmental Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2012
BS in Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2009

 is advancing animal health, biofuel production, and food safety through his research in microbiology. His work focuses on anaerobic microbiology and fermentations, molecular microbial ecology in gut ecosystems, degradation of plant cell wall polymers and biomass, nitrogen metabolism, anaerobic waste digestion, and antibiotic resistance genes.
Affiliations: 
Mackie is a professor in the , part of the  (ACES) at the . Mackie is also affiliated with the  in ACES and the .