Stephanie Gross studies beetle belly microbes
Stephanie
Stephanie joined the lab
in the spring of 2006
to do an independent research project on fungi isolated from homes
flooded in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, including some of her
family members. She identified a number of molds using DNA methods. She
stayed on in the Summer and Fall 2006 to study bacteria that were
isolated from
the gut of wood-ingesting passalid beetles by Nhu Nguyen. She was
introduced
to the lab by Nhu with whom she had many classes in their time at LSU.
--And she plays the guitar! Stephanie graduated at the end of
the
Summer 2006 session and continues to work in the lab --after her post
graduation semester she decided to work on a MS degree. She continues
to work on passalid beetles and is interested in their diet, especially
aspects of microbial involvement in digestion and nutrient uptake.
Meeting presentations:
- E. L. Brodie, N. Nyugen, T. Z.
DeSantis, S. Gross, S-O. Suh,
J. B. Nardi, T. D. Bruns, M. Blackwell, and G. L. Andersen. 2007. Spatial characterization of the
prokaryotic community structure in the passalid beetle gut using a
high-density 16S rRNA PhyloChip. American Society for Microbiology,
Toronto, Ontario, May 2007 (Abstract).
- S. Gross, S.-O. Suh, and M.
Blackwell. 2007. Diet and
its effect on the abundance of endosymbiotic gut yeast found in a
wood-boring beetle Odontotaenius
disjunctus: Passalidae. MSA, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 2007
(Abstract).
Last
Modified: 22 May 2007
Mycology
at LSU