The Drown Lab has been awarded a two year grant to engage undergraduate researchers using new genomic technology to explore the Alaska soil microbiome. We’ll be traveling across the state and working with undergraduates using the latest Nanopore sequencing devices (MinIONs).
Category Archives: research
Antibiotic resistance in a permafrost thaw gradient
Maddie McCarthy has been working for the past year in the lab exploring the presence of antibiotic resistance in microbes found in environmental samples. This week she presented her work finding widespread antibiotic resistance in a Fairbanks permafrost thaw gradient.
She used a combination of techniques including traditional culturing methods and antibiotic screening as well as nanopore sequencing to explore the resistome. She has just started comparing her sequencing data with the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance database.
Maddie’s work was supported by Alaska BLaST who is funded by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers UL1GM118991, TL4GM118992, or RL5GM118990.
Growing a Culture
Making cultures like mad, Madison is hard at work in the West Ridge Research Building (WRRB). As a junior, Madison has over a year to see her project to completion. Way to go, Maddie!
Congratulations, Alex!
Alex Keller received an URSA award for her project investigating pH changes in response to the soil microbiome. Now the greenhouse has another Drown experiment growing on its shelves! What will be next?
Greenhouse Grandeur
There is growth in the greenhouse! Blueberries and cranberries germinated. Now we are testing three nutrient poor soil treatments. Brace yourselves, the greenhouse pilot study is ready for take off!
Permafrost Premonition
Given winter’s rapid approach, the permafrost experimental plots are getting special attention. Preemptive vegetation surveying and soil core collections are propelling the Drown lab into a future greenhouse hibernation…and I am excited about it! Do you know what this means? Vegetation surveying, soil samples and an empty greenhouse? Sounds like a pilot study to me. Maybe come January, this smiling face will be found working alongside the IAB Research Greenhouse coordinator, Mark Wright.
Fairbanks Permafrost Experiment Station
This week I got to check out the US Army Corps of Engineers’ research stomping grounds, also known as the Fairbanks Permafrost Experiment Station (FPES). Accompanied by my proficient permafrost guides, Jackson and Alex, I explored this unique study site. Together we drilled soil cores, slogged through the rain and battled prolific mosquitoes. Fun field days in Fairbanks!
Travel to Toolik (68° 38′ N, 149° 36′ W, AK)
On August 20th, Biology and Wildlife graduate students and researchers traveled to UAF’s Toolik Field Station for an awakening taste of arctic atmosphere. Devin and I used this nine hour road trip north of Fairbanks for investigation…in the 68th degree.
Toolik provided an opportunity to use the MinION sequencing capabilities in the field and sample for microbes on the North Slope.
Soil sampling and DNA sequencing with the MinION was supplemented with an abundance of scarlet alpine bearberry (Arctostaphylos alpina) and characteristically Alaskan Arctic beauty.
A day at the Ancient DNA lab
Lauren, Maddie, and Pat have been working hard this summer doing DNA extractions from our permafrost tunnel soil cores. They took a moment during one of long incubation times to snap a few pictures from inside the bubble of the ancient DNA lab at the University of Alaska Museum of the North. Continue reading A day at the Ancient DNA lab
University of Alaska Biomedical Research Conference
Maddie, Anastasia, and Devin attended the 9th annual University of Alaska Biomedical Research Conference (UA-BRC). For the undergraduates, this was their first research conference and they presented their work using the MinION nanopore sequencer to explore genomics. As you can see below, they drew a crowd to their poster.
This two-day conference showcased biomedical and One Health related research from graduate students, undergraduate students, researchers, and faculty through-out Alaska in the form of oral presentations and poster sessions. There were two workshops about career issues relevant to undergraduate and graduate student training including internship opportunities, STEM student recruitment, networking, entrepreneurship/innovation, and employer expectations.
