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Alexis has completed a masterful story on the bioluminescent symbionts that live with the pelagic tunicate, Pyrosoma atlanticum (also known as a pyrosome). Its bioluminescence has been observed since the 1840s across various oceans. She now has solid microscopic and genetic evidence pointing to symbiont closely related to Photobacterium sp. R33.

April 20, 2010: Its been ten years since DWHOS the worst environmental disaster in US history, which polluted biodiverse waters and at least 5 states on the northern Gulf of Mexico. Eleven oil rig workers tragically lost their lives, as well as all of the countless wild organisms. Funds for scientific research followed from this … Continue reading 10th Anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The symposium turned out to be a stimulating event with 25 eager students and postdocs presenting their research progress alongside some seasoned and new faculty (More info and abstracts can be found here – https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_osj/february-2020/). Rich topics ranged from bacterial quorum sensing to coral diseases, Mississippi river freshwater plumes to hyena behavior and deep sea crustaceans … Continue reading HCNSO holds Third Life Science Graduate Research Symposium Feb 10 -11, 2020

In an effort to promote more data intensive genomics research at Nova Southeastern University, the Lopez and Shivji molecular laboratories have combined resources to hold a bioinformatics workshop. The primary instructor, Dr. Shu-Jin Luo, is also one of Dr. Stephen J. O’Brien’s former students at the NIH’s Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, and led the workshop … Continue reading Bioinformatics workshop run at Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center, Fall 2019

Our recent opinion publication –  Lopez, JV, Peixoto, R. Rosado, AS. Inevitable Future: Space Colonization Beyond Earth with Microbes First. FEMS-Microbiology Ecology. 95 (10) : fiz127,    https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/95/10/fiz127/5553461 was chosen as FEMS Editor’s choice for the period of Oct- Nov 2019. It has also been the most read article of the journal during the period … Continue reading FEMS-Microbiology Ecology paper “Inevitable Future: Space Colonization Beyond Earth with Microbes First” chosen as Editor’s Choice

The IGNITE ITN (Innovative training network) held its second summer school in Zagreb Croatia with highly motivated doctoral students and their EU faculty advisors from Sept 1 – 8, 2019. IGNITE is an EU funded ITN which is training 15 doctoral students (early stage researchers) in comparative genomics of various invertebrates across various universities in Europe — http://www.itn-ignite.eu/. Gert Wörheide is … Continue reading IGNITE Summer school runs Sept 1-8 2019

The Vertebrate Genome Project (VGP) released 101 new, genomes, which they dub as  “high quality chromosome level” assemblies.  GIGA held a very well received session on its own, and interacted with other EBP groups, such as i5K. EBP continued to push its mission to obtain genomes from about 9000 eukaryotes at the family level in its three … Continue reading The first joint VGP/EGP/i5K/GIGA/G10K conference held at Rockefeller University, Aug 27-30, 2019

Characterizations of the identity and diversity of microbial symbiotic communities (“microbiomes”) within different sponges have advanced considerably over the last two decades. Thousands of microbes, mostly unculturable, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) have been identified through the advances of high-throughput DNA sequencing. However, in spite of compelling data pointing to bona fide symbioses between many microbes … Continue reading After the Taxonomic Identification Phase: Addressing the Functions of Symbiotic Communities within Marine Invertebrates

Based on modern microbiology, we propose a major revision in current space exploration philosophy and planetary protection policy, especially regarding microorganisms in space. Mainly, microbial introduction should not be considered accidental but inevitable. We hypothesize the near impossibility of exploring new planets without carrying and/or delivering any microbial travelers. In addition, although we highlight the … Continue reading Inevitable Future: Space Colonization Beyond Earth with Microbes First

Cole G. Easson & Jose V. Lopez The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is a dynamic marine ecosystem influenced by multiple natural and anthropogenic processes and inputs, such as the intrusion of warm oligotrophic water via the Loop Current, freshwater and nutrient input by the Mississippi River, and hydrocarbon inputs via natural seeps and industrial spills. … Continue reading Environmental drivers of bacterioplankton community structure in the northern Gulf of Mexico