Virginia Rich
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona, Tucson, in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. I am co-advised by Scott Saleska and Gene Tyson. You can reach me at vrich {at] email.arizona.edu.
Current Projects
Genes, isotopes, and ecosystem biogeochemistry: dissecting methane flux at the leading edge of global change. A DOE-funded project led by Scott Saleska and myself, with Gene Tyson (University of Queensland), Patrick Crill (Stockholm University), Jeff Chanton (Florida State University), Changsheng Li and Steven Frolking (University of New Hampshire)
“Microbial Buffering”: Protecting the Great Barrier Reef against human impact. A project led by Gene Tyson at the University of Queensland, with David Bourne and Britta Schaffelke (Australian Institute for Marine Science), Matt Sullivan and myself (University of Arizona), and Jason Bragg (CSIRO)
Publications
Rich, VI, Eppley J, Shi Y, Pham V, DeLong EF. 2010. Time-series investigation of a coastal microbial community in Monterey Bay, CA, using the “genome proxy” microarray. Environmental Microbiology. link to article
Rich, VI, Konstantinidis K, DeLong EF. 2008. A “genome proxy” oligonucleotide microarray for marine microbial ecology. Environmental Microbiology. 10: 506-521. link to article
DeLong EF, Preston CM, Mincer T, Rich V, Hallam SJ, Frigaard NU, Martinez A, Sullivan MB, Edwards R, Brito BR, Chisholm SW, Karl DM. 2006. Community genomics among stratified microbial assemblages in the ocean's interior. Science. 311: 496-503. link to article
Horz HP, Rich V, Avrahami S, Bohannan BJ. 2005. Methane-oxidizing bacteria in a California upland grassland soil: diversity and response to simulated global change. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 71: 2642-52. link to article
Preston, CM, Suzuki M, Rich VI, Heidelberg J, Chavez F, DeLong EF. Detection and distribution of two novel form II RuBisCos in the Monterey Bay. Manuscript in preparation.
Education & Training
This is the abridged version; you can download my full C.V. here.
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December 2008 - present: Postdoctoral researcher in the University of Arizona's Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department January 2003 - September 2008: PhD student in the DeLong Lab, co-advised by Ed DeLong and by George Somero at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station 1999-2002: Teaching and research positions at the University of Washington, Seattle, and U.W.'s Friday Harbor Labs B.A. from U.C. Berkeley 1998 |
Thesis Project
Developing "Community Genome" Microarrays for Marine Microbial Ecology
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Over the last 7+ years, Ed and his lab have constructed large-insert environmental clone libraries, made from the microbial fraction of seawater, taken from a variety of depths at several locations. As part of an NSF Microbial Observatory Grant to E.D., I have worked to leverage the sequence information in the Monterey Bay library to construct a "census" microarray for a portion of the native microbial community. This array is now allowing a higher-throughput mapping of microbes than has previously been possible.
Monterey Bay is a long-term ecological research site, with the efforts of several major research institutions focused on understanding the Bay's oceanography. DNA samples have been collected by the DeLong Lab at monthly intervals since 1998, in tandem with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's (MBARI) Biological Oceanography Group (BOG) research cruises. We hope that by examining these archived DNA samples with the microarray, and by exploring the results of this multi-year census in the context of the BOG group's chemcial, physical and biological analyses, we can form a more complete picture of the dynamics of Monterey Bay microbial communities.
Protocols
Preparing Poly-L-lysine Slides
Designing our 70-mer Oligo Probes using ArrayOligoSelector, a program developed by DeRisi lab
Using the Genetix QArray2 Arrayer
Links
- Microarrays.org A useful site created and maintained by the DeRisi Lab, UCSF.
- Our research apprenticeship The course website for a research apprenticeship that I helped developed and run at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs in 2001 and 2002, entitled "The Morphogenesis and Development of Acetabularia, the Mermaid's Wineglass". The leaders of the teaching team were Dr. Garett Odell and Dr. Dina Mandoli.
- The Center for Cell Dynamics I worked with Dr.s Garry Odell, Victoria Foe, and George von Dassow at the CCD as a lab tech before returning to grad school. Their confocal microscopy images and modelling are simply amazing - sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy looking through their incredibly informative, revealing art.
- The MBARI BOG The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's Biological Oceanography Group page.
- Coastal California in Motion A visually stunning movie of chlorophyll and wind off the central California coast in August 2006, made by the MBARI BOG folks.
- Tucson Marine Phage Lab led by Matt Sullivan, exploring marine phages and their hosts.
- Orphan Lab working on anaerobic C- and S-cycling microbial communities.
- The Center for Cell Dynamics at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs. These folks are amazing.
