Gulf Research Request for Proposals

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GRI) holds a $500 million fund from British Petroleum (BP) to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon release and associated impact on human health and the environment.  Today GRI, led by former NSF head Dr. Rita Colwell, announced a request for research proposals.  Second Genome applauds this environmental responsibility [...]

Arsenic Based DNA: Science Fact or Fiction?

Arsenic based DNA: science fiction or science fact?

Oil-Degrading Bacteria

Eric Dubinsky and colleagues at LBNL announce their utilization of the PhyloChip™ assay to discover an upsurge in the abundance of multiple deep-ocean psychrophilic Gammaproteobacteria within the Gulf oil plume. The findings suggest the Gulf oil spilled from the from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig may be eaten by psychrophilic oil-degrading Bacteria. [...]

Subsurface Uranium Sequestration

University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa announce PhyloChip™ assay findings of proteobacterial flux in uranium bioremediation.  They co-announed the discovery with collaborators from University of Oklahoma, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Georgia Institute of Technology in Seattle at  ISME 13.  Below is a description adapted from their abstract: Microbial Phosphatase Activity Involved in Subsurface Uranium Sequestration Authors: Martinez, R; Beazley, [...]