The Microbiome Center's Beacon Project
In September of 2022, researchers from the University of Chicago and the Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) collaborated through The Microbiome Center on the Beacon Project. The researchers began by collecting preliminary data at the Little Sippewissett salt marsh in Woods Hole, MA. The initial Beacon Project team consisted of Dr. Cathy Pfister, PhD Student Roo Weed, Dr. David Mark Welch (MBL), Bailey Fallon (MBL), Emily Curio (MBL), Dr. Emil Ruff (MBL), and Dr. Ketil Koop-Jakobsen (MBL). With this project, the Microbiome Center aims to analyze the role of circadian rhythms in microbial communities. The team’s experimental set up consisted of sunshades constructed by Bailey and Emily and microsensors deployed by Dr. Koop-Jakobsen. Dr. Pfister, Roo and Dr. Koop-Jakobsen sampled each layer of the mat for metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics twice a day (right before sunrise and right before dusk) in both the shaded and unshaded regions of the mat. The microsensors measured oxygen and hydrogen sulfide within the sediment. The Beacon Project is off to a great start and will help answer some of microbiologists’ biggest questions about interactions and metabolic dependency within microbial communities.