Meet the Microbiologist

Nicole Dubilier, Ph.D., Director and head of the Symbiosis Department at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, has led numerous reserach cruises and expeditions around the world studying the symbiotic relationships of bacteria and marine invertebrates. She discusses how the use of various methods, including deep-sea in situ tools, molecular, 'omic' and imaging analyses, have illuminated remarkable geographic, species and habitat diversity amongst symbionts and emphasizes the importance of discovery-driven research over hypothesis-driven methods.

Watch this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC9vqE1visc

Ashley's Biggest Takeaways:

• In 1878, German surgeon, botanist and microbiologist, Heinrich Anton de Bary, first described symbiosis as the living together of two or more different organisms in close physical intimacy for a longer period of time.
• These relationships can be beneficial, detrimental or commensal, depending on the organisms involved.
• Microbial symbiosis research holds great potential to contribute to sustainable energy production and environmental health.

Links for This Episode:

• Learn more about one of Dubilier's research vessels and see videos from the expidition.
• Functional diversity enables multiple symbiont strains to coexist in deep-sea mussels.
• Chemosynthetic symbioses: Primer.
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