Current Lab Members
Melissa Steinman
M.S. candidate Portland State University
B.S. Florida Institute of Technology in Oceanography: Marine and Environmental Systems
M.A. Southern Oregon University.
Melissa is addressing how gelatinous animals feed on marine microbes as prey using approaches including SCUBA, in situ incubations, and high-throughput sequencing of microbial communities associated with gelatinous animals.
Carey Sweeney
B.S. Biology Portland State University
Carey is a technician in the lab and also an active Certified Veterinary Technician. Her background in veterinary medicine spurred her interest in the relationship between microbes and other organisms in the marine ecosystem. As a member of the Microbial Ecology Lab at PSU, she is addressing the microbial community structure of pyrosomes and the dynamics of the microbial community structure in the Oregon Coastal system.
Andrew Roberts
B.S. Biology Portland State University
Andrew has a B.S. in Biology from Portland State University. As a member of the Microbial Ecology Lab, he is addressing the dynamics of phytoplankton diversity and abundance in the North Pacific Ocean using flow cytometry.
John Gale
M.D., PhD
As a volunteer in the Microbial Ecology Lab, John's research focuses on questions of picocyanobacterial diversity and distribution in the Great Lakes using a flow cytometry-based approach.
Kassondra Watson
Undergraduate student, PSU Biology
Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium STARR recipient 2020-2021
Kassondra is pursuing a B.S. in Biology at Portland State University. Her research as part of the Microbial Ecology Lab focuses on the response of picocyanobacteria to intermittent light shock that mimics light availability in the surface mixed layer of the open ocean.
Max Wrubel
Lester Newman Scholar
McNair Scholar
Undergraduate student, PSU Biology
Max is pursuing a B.S. in Biology at Portland State University. As a Lester Newman Scholar and McNair, Max's research uses network analysis of gene expression in the abundant cyanobacterium Prochlorocococcus to discover how cells respond to stress, identify indicator genes for stress in natural populations, and improve understanding of gene regulation.
Angel Bui
PSU BUILD EXITO Scholar
McNair Scholar
Undergraduate student, PSU Biology
Angel is pursuing a B.S. in Biochemistry at Portland State University. As a McNair scholar and PSU BUILD EXITO Scholar Angel is examining the ecology of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus in the open ocean through bioinformatic and culture-based approaches.