The center will be devoted to the study of the microscopic world of the oceans
The University of Georgia, along with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will co-lead a new National Science Foundation science and technology center that will pursue and foster a deeper understanding of the microbial worlds and chemical processes that swirl through Earth’s ocean ecosystems.
The new Center for Chemical Currencies of a Microbial Planet (C-CoMP), based at Woods Hole in Falmouth, Massachusetts, is one of six centers announced by the NSF on September 9. Funded by the NSF for $25 million over five years (with an option for five more), the new center includes Woods Hole, UGA and 11 other universities and research institutes across the country.
At a time when rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are linked to rising ocean temperatures, C-CoMP will seek to better understand the behavior of bioreactive molecules and ocean microbes involved in a quarter of the annual cycle. of the Earth’s organic carbon.
The importance of microbes
“We can’t actually observe what ocean microbes are doing due to their extremely small size, but they literally run the major carbon and nutrient cycles that keep the planet alive,” said Mary Ann Moran. , Regents Professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Department of Marine Science, who will act as C-CoMP’s co-director and research coordinator. “A better understanding of this network of microbes and chemicals will improve our ability to predict how the ocean will work, now and in the future.”
C-CoMP will integrate research and education activities and support interdisciplinary scientific teams to fill gaps in what we know about molecules that serve as “currencies” of elemental transfer within marine microbial communities and between the ocean. and the atmosphere. The new center will take advantage of emerging technologies to isolate and identify molecules produced by marine microbes, to link physiology to the functioning of groups of microbes, and to take advantage of existing datasets on marine microbial and environmental parameters.
“A large percentage of the Earth’s carbon cycle passes through microorganisms that live near the surface of the oceans,” said Art Edison, GRA Eminent Scholar at the Center for Complex Carbohydrates Research at UGA and the one of the main researchers of the C-CoMP. “We know very little about this carbon flux because it’s really hard to study. We can leverage our recently funded network for advanced nuclear magnetic resonance to help. My lab has worked on smaller projects scale, and C-CoMP will bring more collaborative expertise and greatly expand the reach and impact of our work.
Answer general questions
“If we don’t know the resilience of this chemical-microbial network, we’re missing a pretty fundamental mechanism in how the planet works,” said Elizabeth Kujawinski, senior scientist at WHOI and director of C-CoMP. “The overarching questions are: what are the key molecules in this carbon pool, how fast do they cycle, and how sensitive is the pool to climate change?”
Other scientific themes include understanding the rules of the chemical-microbial network, including connections between different organisms, and understanding network sensitivity and climate feedbacks. Another major goal of C-CoMP will be to develop ocean literacy among students of all ages and expand the diversity of the ocean science workforce.
“I am excited about C-CoMP because it will fully engage students at all levels as the next generation of scientists,” said Erin Dolan, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Professor of Innovative Science Education at Georgia Athletic Association and C-CoMP senior researcher. “Members of the Center look forward to working with a diverse group of young people to help them understand the importance of the oceans in carbon flux and the power of interdisciplinary teams to solve the most pressing issues of our time.”
C-CoMP participating institutions include WHOI and UGA as well as the University of Virginia, Columbia University, Marine Biological Laboratory, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science, Stanford University, Boston College, Ohio State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and University of Florida.
