NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2008

Aristilde Ludmilla, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Ludmilla Aristilde is "Investigating Cellular Regulation in Marine Phytoplankton" The host institution for this research is Princeton University and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. François M. M. Morel. Phytoplankton in the ocean play a major role in global carbon and sulfur cycles by creating and secreting many different carbon-rich and sulfur-containing compounds, which affect both the chemistry of the ocean and the dynamics of microbial and algal foodwebs. Using Emilina huxleyi as a model organism, this research seeks to understand how and where in the cell one of these sulfur-containing compounds, dimethylsulfoniopropionate, is synthesized and the relationship of this synthesis to photosynthetic reactions in the plankton. The training objectives are to learn a combination of microbiological and biochemical techniques to address a problem of global importance at the molecular level and to work at the interface of environmental health and environmental biology. As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide continue to increase and the temperature of the ocean surface also continues to rise, plankton species may be seen to alter their metabolism including their rates of photosynthesis. This research promises to have broader impacts by contributing to the assessment of the impacts of future climate change on the earth's ecosystems.