My favorite organisms fly deeply under the radar, working day in and day out to make this big blue marble habitable for all the plants and animals taking up the space. Our atmosphere became oxygenated because photosynthetic bacteria converted light energy to chemical energy and as a byproduct spit out oxygen. Fertile soils can grow plants because nitrogen fixing bacteria take unusable nitrogen gas in the air and convert it to usable nitrogen, the element you add to your lawn when you fertilize each spring.
All these amazing little feats made bacteria interesting enough to me to become my life's work. Typically when people ask what I do I start off telling them I am a marine biologist (just to catch their attention) and their eyes light up and usually say something like "Oh wow! I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little" and usually ask what I study. This is my favorite part, because when I tell them I study bacteria on coral reefs, those excited faces usually drop and they something like "oh that's cool"and that's my cue to show them how cool it really can be.
Currently I am working on a project searching for antibiotic producing organisms which may contribute to disease resistance. Marine animals (sponges, corals, fish) are often chemically defended, meaning the organisms produce a compound that helps them fight off disease. And not just marine organisms, right now you are doing the same thing in your mouth, and your stomach, and on your skin. This knowledge has led to an incredible field called Natural Products Discovery, where they try to capture these compounds and recreate them in a lab for human use.
But I digress, my project is studying the potential interaction of the invasive lionfish:
and their associated bacteria:
And trying to determine if possibly (hopefully) this interaction protects these invaders from common fish diseases in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic Ocean contributing to their success. What's really cool is despite all of the advances we have made in modern science sometimes the old school methods are just the most effective. So lately I have been channeling my inner microbiologist and ignoring my recently trained molecular biologist and working with the bacteria in culture. What this means is that I can challenge the lionfish bacteria against known pathogens and actually see their ability to fight off the pathogens.
There is so much to appreciate and still discover about bacteria beyond their ability to give us a sore throat or food poisoning. Like so many things in life that get a bad reputation, sometimes you just have to use them correctly (i.e. leggings, habanero peppers, and blue eyeshadow).
Love to all!
- Jules
