Masters Candidate

Grand Valley State University
Annis Water Resources Institute 740 West Shoreline Drive Muskegon, MI 49441

Office: 228 Lake Michigan Center
Phone: (616) 331-8798 Fax: (616) 331-3864 Email: [email protected]

Freshwater ecosystems are highly reactive sites of carbon metabolism and land-margin coastal ecosystems are emerging as hotspots in the global carbon cycle. My work at the Annis Water Resources Institute examines seasonal changes in carbon flux and microbial community composition along a land to lake gradient in a major West Michigan watershed. I am using a combination of traditional ecosystem approaches and current molecular tools to test my hypotheses that: 1) microbial composition varies systematically from highly productive riverine waters to oligotrophic open lake waters and 2) seasonal variations in microbial populations reflect changes in terrigenous subsidies and temperature in this Great Lakes watershed.

Deb obtained a BS in Biology in 1984 from Southern Connecticut State University. In 1986 she received an MS from the University of Illinois where she studied the putP proline permease of Salmonella typhimurium LT2. The active site of the permease was suggested by isolating and analyzing substrate specificity mutants in the putP gene. After graduation she worked as a research associate at New England Biolabs. At Biolabs, Deb used both classical and molecular genetic techniques to investigate the mcrBC locus of Escherichia coli K12. The mcrBC locus mediates sequence-specific restriction of cytosine-modified DNA.

Deb will be continuing her graduate work at Annis Water Resources Institute with major advisor Dr. Bopi Biddanda and co-advisor Dr. Ryan Thum in Fall 2009. The aim of this master's thesis research is to examine microbial diversity and community composition along a "land to lake" gradient from a local river to Lake Michigan. How terrestrial input influences microbial communities along the gradient will be of special interest.