Publication Type

Building a Sustainable Future with Lessons Learned from Unconventional Microbes

Michelle O'Malley

2025

Address ways in which biophysicists can engage with sustainability research, present concrete examples of research with strong impact on sustainability, discuss funding opportunities, and propose how to make your daily research practices more sustainable.

New approaches to secondary metabolite discovery from anaerobic gut microbes

Lazarina V. Butkovich, Oliver Vining, Michelle O'Malley

2025

DOI #: 10.1007 The animal gut microbiome is a complex system of diverse, predominantly anaerobic microbiota with secondary metabolite potential. These metabolites likely play roles in shaping microbial community membership and influencing animal host health. As such, novel secondary metabolites from gut microbes hold significant biotechnological and therapeutic interest. Despite their potential, gut microbes are largely untapped for secondary metabolites, with gut fungi and obligate anaerobes being particularly under-explored. To advance understanding of these… Read more

Methane evades microbes

David L. Valentine

2024

DOI #: 10.1038 Microbial activity in marine sediment acts as a barrier that generally prevents methane from escaping. However, a survey from the Baltic Sea suggests that in many locations the microbial population falters and methane can pass through freely.

From Trash to Treasure: Bioprospecting Nature’s Microbial Communities for Biotechnology

Michelle O'Malley

2024

Anaerobic microbes work together in complex communities that decompose and recycle carbon biomass throughout the Earth – from our guts to landfills and compost piles. Despite their importance, little information exists to parse the role of each microbial member within their dynamic community. To address these knowledge gaps, we pioneered new techniques to isolate anaerobes from biomass-rich environments (e.g. guts and fecal materials of herbivores), characterize their shared metabolism, and build synthetic microbiomes to drive biomass to renewable chemicals. Herbivore fecal samples were challenged by different types of biomass during… Read more