Genes in the Sediment

CMOP research associate Katie Rathmell (in scuba gear) hands off a sediment sample collected from Cahtlamet Bay to intern Kiley Seitz. Kiley is a CMOP undergraduate intern performing research this summer with her mentor Lydie Herfort (not pictured) to characterize biological hotspots in the Columbia River estuary. Kiley spent time aboard the R/V CORIE collecting and sub-sampling sediment from Cathlamet Bay. She will take the sediment samples back to the labs at OHSU to perform DNA and RNA extractions (one tube extracted for DNA and one tube extracted for RNA). Once extractions are completed she will then perform qPCR to determine the abundance of archaeal and bacterial amoA genes (key gene involved in the nitrogen cycle). Read more about Kiley's summer internship.