URAP

Britt Koskella - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Open     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Lichens are partnerships of fungi, algae, and bacteria entangled in symbiosis. In two interconnected projects focused on the lace lichen (Ramalina menziesii), we are exploring how lichens persist as integrated units despite their variable habitats and symbiotic partners. We have reciprocally transplanted lace lichen from two distinct microhabitats on Santa...

Britt Koskella - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Open     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

Bacteriophages (phages) are potent bacterial predators and parasites that play a critical role in the ecology of microbial communities. While most phages immediately kill their host bacterium, some phages (prophages) allow their host to live momentarily by pausing infection and integrating into the host chromosome. While integrated, prophages can sometimes...

Britt Koskella - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Open     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

For the last 10 years the Pear project (fire blight of pear trees) has been seeking to better understand how bacteriophage viruses impact the ability of two bacterial pathogens (Erwinia amylovora and Pseudomonas syringae) to colonize and infect pear trees around the city of Berkeley. We are tracking bacteria-phage...

Britt Koskella - Professor, Integrative Biology

Status: Open     Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs     Location: On Campus

In natural systems, microorganisms interact with myriad other microbial populations which influence their evolution and ecology. When associated with a eukaryotic host, these complex microbial communities (known as microbiomes) also interact with and impact their host’s ecology and evolution, nutrient acquisition, and pathogen susceptibility. Despite the microbiome's vast importance on...