Dr. Jeffrey Marlow is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Boston University. He received his B.S. from Washington University in St. Louis (2007), M.Phil. from Imperial College London (2010), and Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (2016). Dr. Marlow is interested in understanding how complex microbial communities shape and are shaped by their environments, particularly in the context of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen metabolism in coastal salt marshes, seafloor methane seeps, hydrothermal vents, polymetallic nodule fields, and recently emplaced lava flows. By focusing on culture-independent assessments of metabolic activity, the ecological roles of organisms working in concert can be clarified. By working across a range of systems, generalizable principles of life’s interaction with its environment can inform the search for life beyond Earth. Dr. Marlow has been named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, a Scialog Fellow, and an Explorers Club Rolex Explorer. He enjoys traveling, trail running, and fretting over the health of his house plants.
Graduate Students
Erin Frates is a PhD student in the Ecology, Behavior, & Evolution program at Boston University. She received her B.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology from the University of Rhode Island, where she studied benthic microbial ecology in Narragansett Bay. As an undergraduate, she made efforts to improve planetary protection strategies by using fluorescence microscopy to asses cleanrooms at NASA Goddard. After graduating in 2020, Erin began working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, collecting and processing environmental DNA to investigate biodiversity in the Ocean Twilight Zone. Erin enjoys theatre, music, and traveling.
Peter Schroedl is a PhD student in the Ecology, Behavior, & Evolution program at Boston University. He received his B.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of Minnesota in 2017. Before returning to the classroom in the Fall of 2020, Peter worked in labs and in the field, studying extremophiles in the deep sea and the stratosphere, and examining evidence for life in 3.4-billion-year-old rocks in the Australian Outback. He has experience measuring uranium and thorium decay series isotopes to develop paleoclimate records. Always up for an adventure, Peter keeps an open mind to new experiences, methods, and techniques. He deeply values sharing knowledge with others, and has taught students of all ages in planetariums, public school programs, laboratories, museums, and outreach events.
Undergraduate Researchers
Maggie Alter is a senior studying biology at BU. She has used fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence in situ hybridization to examine microbial interactions on river sediments, seafloor carbonate rocks, and corals. She is currently customizing methods to extract DNA from polymetallic nodules and marine sediments to identify the microbial communities associated with these deep sea habitats. Maggie is also on the sailing team and loves all marine environments!
Devin Manzoori is a BU senior researching methods to separate extracellular DNA from intracellular DNA across a range of environmental contexts. Failing to account for extracellular DNA and the ways in which it interacts with different mineral types, such as basalts, carbonates, and clays, can lead to misleading interpretations of active microbial communities. Devin hopes to apply his experience in the lab to future medical research, as the clinical relevance of the microbiome is a growing and significant field. Outside of the lab, he enjoys listening to and playing music, training jiu-jitsu, and exploring restaurants around Boston.
Claire Momjian is a junior at BU studying biology and public health. She is currently working on optimizing BONCAT to analyze microbial activity during distinct phases of growth. With an interest in medicine, she hopes to learn how complex microbial communities can influence both medical research and clinical practices associated with the microbiome. Her interests outside of the lab include scuba diving, running, and baking.
Akshata Shukla is a junior at BU studying cellular biology. In the lab, she has been using microscopy and imaging processing techniques to better visualize microbial movement. In particular, she is developing a method to link spatial analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and live cell imaging to identify novel interactions within salt marsh sediments. In her free time, Akshata enjoys writing, hiking, and exploring the city with her friends!
