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Overview

In Microbial Ecology Lab, we are pursuing intriguing questions in the abundance, diversity, activity and interactions of microbes in various ecosystems including natural (soil and water) and biological (human) ecosystems. Even with the overwhelming significance of microbes in their abundance, biomass and contribution to the ecosystem services, systematic and comprehensive research has not been very abundant. With rapid advancement in molecular and analytical technologies as well as computational approaches, I am particularly interested in conducting research on, including:

• Characterizing and determining microbial communities of ecologically active sites (e.g., freshwater & salt marsh sediment, waste water treatment plant, human body etc), particularly in their temporal dynamics under natural and disturbance (e.g., pollution, climate change etc) circumstances.

• Understanding spatial distribution and scaling of microbial communities, particularly in their functional aspect (e.g., N cycle) using both target functional genes (e.g., amoA) and overall activity (e.g., ammonium oxidation).

• Linking diversity, dynamics and distribution of microbial community with environmental constraining factors (e.g., nutrient, pH, geographic distance).

• Expanding and validating of ecological laws (e.g., island biogeography, diversity-stability relationship) of macro-organisms into microbial systems.

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of my research interests, my research group is actively engaged with other research groups from biology, Environmental Science and Geology, as part of multidisciplinary research effort CRASR (Center for Reservoir and Aquatic Science Research) as well as other institutes through collaboration.

Open position

I am looking for graduate students not afraid of getting dirty at field and delicacy and frustration of lab works.

 

2 Responses to Home

  1. Ridha SLAIMI says:

    I hope you are doing well,

    My name is Ridha SLAIMI, I am a third year PhD student enrolled at the Faculty of Sciences of Tunisia. My research subject is about “The treatment of urban waste water by a biological system; association between plants and bacteria in hydroponics”. This research treats for the first time in this field a plant which is very resistant to stress conditions.So far, we have managed to purify this water from microbiological and physicochemical point of view via this plant which has a noteworthy Growth capacity.

    Based on my reading related to your research, I found that it might be possible to perform part of my research in your laboratory. Therefore, I’m writing this email to ask if it is possible to perform the assays “the study of endophyte bacterial communities in the roots before and after application of the biological treatment system to evaluate the bacterial community wich helps this plant for the treatment of water in your Lab and to be part of your team.

    I also inform you that the expenses related to this internship (stay and tickets) will be the responsibility of our ministry of higher education and scientific research

    Looking forward to read from you,

    Best regards,

    Ridha

    • sanghoonkang says:

      Ridha, thanks for the inquiry. Please email me with some detail that you are looking for in performing your research – kind of work, expense associated with that work, duration, etc.

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