Misha Mehta

E-mail: mehta058@umn.edu

Year entered: 2007

Degrees received:
B.S., Microbiology, University of Bombay, India, 2001
M.S., Microbiology, University of Bombay, India, 2003
M.S., Molecular Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, 2007

Honors and Awards:

• 3M Science & Technology Fellowship, 2007-2010
• Microbial Diversity Summer Course, MBL, 2008, Woods Hole MA

Thesis research:

Microbial metal reduction plays an important role in bioremediation of metals, as well as in various biogeochemical cycling. My project is to study the diversity, physiology and the molecular biology of such anaerobic metal-reducing bacteria. The Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria have been identified as major bacterial groups implicated in various subsurface processes. An initial part of my research has been to identify and characterize novel isolates belonging to these widely distributed yet uncultured phyla, using various enrichment and identification strategies, like microbial fuel cells for enrichment of anaerobic iron-reducing bacteria, meta-genomics and in situ probing for community identification. Preliminary studies of bacterial diversity from a unique iron rich anaerobic wetland showed significant populations of bacteria belonging to both the Protebacterium and the Acidobacterium phyla near the oxic/anoxic interface, indicating a potential role in anaerobic iron-reduction in this environment. Another part of my project will be to conduct physiological experiments to identify the molecular basis of metal-reduction in these novel isolates.