An important Strategy for the Foundation’s Marine Microbiology Initiative is to support the research of an influential group of individual Investigators. These researchers were chosen after being nominated and screened to assess the significance of their past research, the quality of their current research, the likelihood that their future accomplishments would equal or exceed their past work, and the probability that their future work would contribute to the success of the Initiative. Investigators were selected to create a portfolio of complementary research foci, including: evolution and ecology; bacterial, archaeal, eukaryotic, and viral organisms and communities; open ocean, coastal, and benthic habitats; and carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur biogeochemistry.

Lab of Stephen J. Giovannoni, Ph.D.
This grant will provide support to Oregon State University for research in the laboratory of Investigator Dr. Stephen J. Giovannoni on the dynamics of a key group of marine planktonic microorganisms that require external sources of carbon for food and energy. This abundant, ecologically important group of bacteria will be studied with respect to its composition, gene and protein expression patterns, genome content, and nutritional requirements. Outcomes for this grant include a deeper understanding of how populations of these bacteria change in space and time in natural marine systems, how they have evolved to cope with low nutrient levels, and how this ubiquitous and numerically predominant group impacts marine biogeochemical cycles.

Lab of Mary Ann Moran, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of Georgia Foundation will support research in the laboratory of Senior Investigator Dr. Mary Ann Moran on the genetic underpinnings of bacterial sulfur and carbon cycling in the coastal ocean. Objectives are to understand the role of marine bacteria in sustaining productivity of the coastal ocean and the formation and flux of climatically active gases containing sulfur and carbon.

Lab of E. Virginia Armbrust, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of Washington will support research in the laboratory of Senior Investigator Dr. E. Virginia Armbrust to understand how marine diatoms respond and adapt to environmental change. Objectives are to investigate the role of the environment in maintaining diatom diversity and, in turn, the role of diatoms in maintaining marine ecosystems.

Lab of Sallie W. Chisholm, Ph.D.
This grant to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will support research in the laboratory of Senior Investigator Dr. Sallie (Penny) W. Chisholm on the ecology of Prochlorococcus, a major group of primary producers in the upper ocean, and its mechanisms of evolution. Outcomes for this grant include a deeper understanding of ecological differentiation among various groups of Prochlorococcus and how they interact with co-occurring heterotrophic bacteria and infective viruses. Key physiological and times series data are expected to be generated and supplied to ecosystem models.

Lab of Edward F. DeLong, Ph.D.
This grant to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will support research in the laboratory of Senior Investigator Dr. Edward F. DeLong on the dynamics of the composition and gene expression patterns of planktonic microbial communities. Outcomes for this grant include a deeper understanding of how Bacterial and Archaeal populations change in space and time in natural and perturbed marine systems, how microbes communicate with each other in ocean environments, and how widely distributed genes of important ecological function impact marine biogeochemical cycles.

Lab of Jonathan Zehr, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of California, Santa Cruz will support research in the laboratory of Senior Investigator Dr. Jonathan P. Zehr on the microbiological underpinnings of the nitrogen cycle in the ocean. Objectives of this grant are to investigate the microbiology, diversity, physiology, biochemistry, and biogeochemistry of the open ocean nitrogen cycle, including N2 fixation and nitrate assimilation.

Lab of David M. Karl, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of Hawai’i Foundation will provide continued support for research in the laboratory of Senior Investigator Dr. David M. Karl. Objectives of this grant are to quantify solar energy capture and transduction, and to improve our understanding of essential bioelemental cycles and sequestration of atmospheric carbon by the microbially-mediated oceanic biological carbon pump.

Lab of Jennifer Hughes Martiny, Ph.D.

This grant to Brown University supports research in the laboratory of Dr. Hughes Martiny. Her lab uses a combination of approaches, from genetic surveys of natural communities to field experiments and microcosm studies. Outcomes for this grant include development of new sampling and statistical methods to evaluate marine microbial activity, identification of novel factors of microbe biodiversity, and establishment of the connection between microbe biodiversity and ecosystem processes.

Since her Investigator grant was approved, Dr. Martiny has moved to the University of California, Irvine, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Lab of Victoria Orphan, Ph.D.
This grant supports research in the Caltech laboratory of Dr. Orphan. Her interests include microbial community structure and function in deep subsurface habitats, marine sediments, oil and gas seeps, and early Earth analog environments. Outcomes for this grant include documentation of the flow of carbon and nitrogen through microbial assemblages using novel methods, detection of metabolic gene expression in uncultured archaea and bacteria, and analysis of complex microbial communities using state-of-the-art, high-resolution technologies.

Lab of Forest Rohwer, Ph.D.
This grant to San Diego State University supports research in the laboratory of Dr. Rohwer into the genomics and evolutionary relationships of viruses. The work includes the sequencing of viral metagenomes from environmental samples. Outcomes for this grant include completion of 25 to 50 viral metagenomes sequences, discovery of common viral ancestor and creation of viral metabolomes to serve as the metabolic "fingerprints" of viral communities, and construction of online genome analysis tools.

Lab of Stephen J. Giovannoni, Ph.D.
This grant to the Oregon State University supports research conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Giovannoni—a recognized expert on the cultivation of marine microbes from the natural ocean environment. Dr. Giovannoni and his team successfully cultured SAR 11, an elusive bacterial group now called Pelagibacter ubique, which are some of the smallest (billions fit into a teaspoon) and most abundant organisms on Earth. Outcomes for this grant include improved marine microbe lab culture success and the description of Pelagibacter nutrient limiting factors and proteomics.

Lab of Mary Ann Moran, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of Georgia Foundation supports the research of Dr. Mary Ann Moran, a leading expert on oceanic sulfur cycles. Outcomes for this grant include deepened understanding of the global sulfur cycle and exploration of the taxonomic and functional dynamics of marine microbial communities, and the ecosystem-scale implications of microbial interactions.

Lab of E. Virginia Armbrust, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of Washington supports the research of Dr. Armbrust into the genomics and physiology of diatoms. Diatoms play a major role in marine ecology and in facilitating the flow of nitrogen, carbon, and energy in the oceans. Outcomes for this grant include identification of the molecular basis of diatom toxin production, explanation of the adaptation of microbial communities to local environments and the environmental causes for toxic diatom blooms, and application of diatom genomics to the understanding of carbon and nitrogen metabolism.

Lab of Nicole King, Ph.D.
This grant to UC Berkeley supports the research of Dr. King into the evolution of multi-cellular animals from their unicellular ancestors. A key question under investigation at the laboratory is how and when the genetic "toolkit" that led to the origin of animals was assembled. Outcomes for this grant include reconstruction of an ancestral animal genome, characterization of Choanoflagellate cell biology, investigation of the ancestral function of the genes required for multicellular development in animals, and substantiation of priority for animal mode gene regulation.

Lab of Alexandra Z. Worden, Ph.D.

This grant to the University of Miami supports research in the laboratory of Dr. Worden into marine microbial population dynamics and carbon cycling in marine ecosystems. Researchers will explore biochemical and molecular mechanisms of microbe-algae interactions and study microbial predator-prey interactions. Outcomes for this grant include description of microbial predation, explanation of the biochemistry of microbe-algae interactions, connection of microbial competition to population dynamics, delineation of competition processes and population dynamics within marine food webs, and annotation of the (green alga) Ostreococcus tauri genome.

Since her Investigator grant was approved, Dr. Worden has moved to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Lab of Edward F. DeLong, Ph.D.
This grant to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology supports the research of Dr. DeLong into the genetic diversity of planktonic marine bacteria and archaea. Outcomes for this grant include characterization of the genomes and genomic variability of dominant planktonic bacteria and archaea, integration of biogeochemical and genomic evolutionary theories, creation of a metabolic and biogeochemical model of microbe communities, and the tracking of microbe populations by DNA.

Lab of Sallie W. Chisholm, Ph.D.
This grant to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology supports the work of Dr. Chisholm into the ecology and evolution of the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus. Commonly called blue-green algae, cyanobacteria are among the largest and most important groups of bacteria alive today. Outcomes for this grant include explanation of the ecotype genomics and diversity of the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus, definition of Prochlorococcus ecotype growth factors, and examination of the relative fitnesses of mixed culture strains.

Lab of Jonathan Zehr, Ph.D.
This grant to UC Santa Cruz supports the work of Dr. Zehr in the development of remote-sensing probes and sampling procedures for the study of nitrogen-fixing marine microbes. Outcomes for this grant include deployment of remote microbe samplers, construction of probes for, and investigation of, the gene expression of Crocosphaera.

Lab of David M. Karl, Ph.D.
This grant to the University of Hawaii's Department of Oceanography supports the research of Dr. Karl into the genetic diversity and physiological capacity of microbes in the ocean. Outcomes for this grant include construction of rDNA tools to track dynamic populations, descriptions of short-time population dynamics, definition of community composition factors, and a refined ocean ecosystem model.