Sean P. O'Connell: Research Interests

My research interests include primarily the surveying of microbial diversity (bacterial and archaeal species) in a variety of habitats ranging from the subsurface to surface environments including soils and streams. This survey includes not only who is there but also what they are doing and how can we increase our ability to detect and/or culture under-represented microorganisms. My lab is currently investigating study sites located in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) to characterize the microbial diversity in these sites.

Current projects include:
Weaver Haney (M.S. candidate) has sampled industrial waste from a decomissioned metal
    alloy production site in Charleston, SC as a means of finding chromium-reducing bacteria.
    He has isolated several species that grow in elevated CrVI conditions (including some at pH
    10) and hopes to characterize these strains for chromium tolerance and reduction abilities.
Kristina Reid (B.S. candidate) has been busy isolating, identifying, and biochemically
    characterizing bacteria from three distinct forest types in GSMNP (old growth, formerly
    logged, and a Chestnut Blight impacted site). This summer she was awarded an American
    Society for Microbiology (ASM) Undergraduate Research Fellowship to study the molecular
    diversity of bacteria in the three forests above as well as seven other Smokies sites. Work
    will continue into the fall of 2003 and Kristina will present her research at the 2004 ASM
    General Meeting in New Orleans in May.
Kim Lowery (B.S. candidate, Senior Thesis student) has been examining the role of bacteria in
    decomposition of animal tissue in Gregorys Cave, GSMNP. Kim has generated some
    fascinating data suggesting that the microbial communities responsible for decomposition
    vary by location in the cave as well as by time after decomposition commenced. She will
    finish up this work in the fall of 2003.

Past projects have included:
Henry Angelopulos (M.S., April 2003) examined the role of acidic and metal leachate on the         functional and species diversity of microbial communities of Beech Flats Prong near
    Newfound Gap, GSMNP.
Matt Dunn (M.S., June 2003) performed experiments using S. cerevisiae (the yeast used in         fermentation of beer and wine) as a model organism for adaptive radiation and
    demonstrated enhanced fitness of progeny when competed against their ancestor in
    resource-limiting environments.
Christophe Le Moine (M.S., June 2003) sampled ten different vegetation systems in GSMNP to
    detect thermophilic bacterial species. In this summer project he found thermophiles in nine
    of ten locations and sequenced DNA from three or four isolates aligned with Geobacillus.
Gina Parise (B.S., May 2003) surveyed the psychrophilic archaea from forest soils in Albright     Grove and the Beech Flats Prong areas in GSMNP. She found DNA sequences related to
    Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota and has enriched organisms in soil in the hopes of
    obtaining a pure culture of these culture-resistant organisms.