2019 NIMBioS-NSA REU Program

Investigating viral infection rates of marine phytoplankton

Participants:
Priscilla Cho, Chemistry, Emory Univ.
Lucas Fiet, Mathematics, Univ. of Tennessee
Margaret Knight, Mathematics, Colorado College

Mentors:
Dr. David Talmy, Microbiology, Univ. of Tennessee
Dr. Audra Hinson, Microbiology, Univ. of Tennessee

Project Description. Marine phytoplankton are responsible for approximately half of global photosynthetic carbon fixation. Viral infection of marine phytoplankton diverts material toward bacterial remineralization, and away from transfer to higher trophic levels. This project will combine mathematical modeling with published data from laboratory infection experiments, to quantitatively constrain rates of viral infection. Results from the project will contribute toward the goal of accounting for viral infection in marine ecosystem models, to improve our understanding of the roles of viral infection in marine ecosystems.

Return to REU 2019.

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From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.