Earth Sciences Division Staff: Janet Jansson

Biographical Summary

Professor Jansson received her Ph.D. in Microbial Ecology from Michigan State University. She spent 20 years in Sweden, starting with her postdoctoral research at Stockholm University. She was a Professor of Microbiology at Södertörn University College and then Professor (Chair) of Environmental Microbiology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). She was also Vice Dean of the Faculty for Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences at SLU. She is currently a Senior Staff Scientist in the Earth Sciences Division and a Chief Editor of The ISME Journal. Her expertise is in the area of molecular microbial ecology and “omics” approaches with a focus on soil, marine sediment and the human gut environments.

Education

• New Mexico State University  -  B.S. Biology & Soil Science, 1980
• Colorado State University  -  M.S. Soil Microbiology, 1983
• Michigan State University  -  Ph.D. Microbial Ecology, 1988
• Stockholm University  -  Postdoc. Biochemistry, 1991

Professional Experience

• 2007-present Senior Staff Scientist, Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA
  • 20% appointment at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI), LBNL
  • 20% appointment at the Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI), LBNL
• 2003-present Professor (Chair) of Environmental Microbiology, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden
• 2006-2007 Vice Dean (25%), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala
• 2000-2002 Professor of Microbiology, Section for Natural Sciences, Södertörn University, Sweden
• 1998-1999 Associate Professor, Section for Natural Sciences, Södertörn University College
• 1996-1997 Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden

Current Research Support

• US Department of Energy, BER: “Meta-“omics” analysis of microbial carbon cycling responses to altered rainfall inputs in native prairie soils”. 2010-2012. Jansson PI, in collaboration with Ari Jumpponen & Charles Rice (KSU), Susannah Tringe (JGI) Robert Hettich & Nathan VerBerkmoes (ORNL). Project coordinator: David Myrold (OSU), Jansson budget: $200,000/yr
• NSF Research Coordination Network, TerraGenome-The Soil Metagenome Network. 2011-2015. Jansson, PI & liason with Earth Microbiome Project. Project coordinator: David Myrold (OSU). $500,000 total.
• Earth Microbiome Project (funded through Illumina, Eppendorf, MoBio, Argonne National Laboratory and University of Colorado, Boulder): Jansson, Steering committee member and PI in charge of soil projects for EMP, including sample collection, storage and processing.
• US Department of Energy, Strategic LDRD: “Fundamental research on biological carbon capture and soil carbon stabilization”. 2010-2012. Jansson PI, Project coordinator: Margaret Torn (LBNL). $250,000/yr
• British Petroleum (BP) Energy Biosciences Institute: Microbially Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery (MEHR)- Systems Biology Program. 2009 – 2019. Jansson Co-PI in charge of “omics” analyses: Project coordinators: Terry Hazen and John Coates. LBNL budget is $1,600,000/Yr
• BP- Gulf oil spill project: Use of “omics” to assess the impact of the Gulf oil spill on microbial community composition and function. 2010-2012. LBNL budget is approx. Jansson, Co-PI and coordinator of “omics” analyses. Project coordinator: Terry Hazen, LBNL. Approx.. $1,000,000/yr.
• US National Institute of Health: Metagenomic Analysis of the Structure and Function of the Human Gut Microbiota in Crohn's Disease. 2009-2011. Role, PI. Project coordinator: Claire Fraser-Liggett (Univ. of Maryland, USA). Jansson budget: $210,000/yr.
• General Mills: Impact of dietary carbohydrate on the gut microbiota composition and function. 2011. Jansson PI; Co-PI, Ronald Kraus (Children’s Hospital, Oakland). $275,000.
• DOE/ Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Community Sequencing Project: Metagenomics of permafrost soil – implications for climate change. 2010. Sequencing costs covered by JGI. Postdoc costs funded by visiting postdoc in Jansson lab (Finnish Academy of Science). Jansson, (Co-PI); PI, Mark Waldrop, USGS.
• DOE/Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Community Sequencing Project: Microbial Community structure and metabolic potential of chronically polluted marine sediments from cold regions of the northern and southern hemispheres. Sequencing costs covered by JGI. Jansson (Co-PI); PI, Hebe M. Dionisi, CENPAT-CONICET, Argentina.
• Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI) Microbial Communities. Jansson PI. 20% salary & Postdoc funded through JBEI. (approx. $250,000/yr).

Current Postdoctoral Supervision

• Research Associate
  • Giancarlo Galindo
• Supervision of post doctoral fellows
  • Neslihan Tas [2011-2012]
  • Maude David [2010-2012]
  • Regina Lamendella [2009-2011]
  • Olivia Mason [2009-2012]
  • Jenni Hultman [2010-2012]
  • Jacob Baelum [2010-2012]
  • Emmanuel Prestat [2011-2012]
  • Lasse Bergmark [2011]
  • Nicholas Ballor [2011-2012]
• Completed Ph.D. and M.S. (Lisc.) degrees under supervision of J.K. Jansson
  • Johan Dicksved (Ph.D.) 2008. Exploring the human intestinal microbiome in health and disease.
  • Maria Unell (Ph.D.) 2008. Physiological, genetic and proteomic characterization of Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus during growth on different phenolic substrates or temperatures.
  • Lotta Jäderlund (Ph.D.) 2008. Fates and impacts of the genetically modified palnt growth-promoting bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25.
  • Anna Edlund (Ph.D.) 2007. Microbial diversity in Baltic Sea sediments.
  • Ninwe Maraha (Ph.D.) 2007. Physiological status of bacteria used for environmental applications.
  • Cecilia Jernberg (Ph.D.) 2006. Use of microbiomics to study human impacts on complex microbial communities.
  • Veronica Artursson (Ph.D.) 2005. Bacterial-fungal interactions highlighted using microbiomics.
  • Karolina Westerberg (Ph.D.) 2004. 4-Chlorophenol biodegradation by Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6.
  • Ninwe Maraha (Lisc.) 2004. Studies of the physiological status of bacteria used for environmental applications.
  • Agneta Backman (Lisc.) 2004. Optimization of bacterial inoculants for environmental biotechnology applications.
  • Annika Unge (Ph.D.) 2000. Marker genes: Molecular tools for in situ monitoring of bacterial distribution and activity in environmental samples.
  • Annika Unge (Lisc.) 1998. Development of molecular marker systems for quantification of specific bacterial populations.
  • Annelie Elväng (Ph.D.) 1998. Quantitative monitoring of microorganisms in environmental samples using biomarkers.

Additional Mentoring Activities

• Rachel Mackelprang (Co-supervisor/ Eddy Rubin Main supervisor) [2009-2011]
• Kent Li (UC Berkeley undergrad)
• Katie Amberg-Johnson (UC Berkeley undergrad)
• Shi Wang (visiting Master’s student, The Netherlands)
• Eric Bottos (visiting postdoc, New Zealand)

Conference Chair Positions

• Conference organizer for the 10^th Symposium on Bacterial Genetics and Ecology (BAGECO-10), with 320 participants. Uppsala, Sweden. 2009
• Vice-Chair of the Gordon Conference on Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Mount Holyoke, MA, 2011 (elected Chair for 2013)
• Elected Co-Chair of the ASM Beneficial Host-Microbe conference, San Francisco, CA, 2012.
• Session chair. Bacterial Genetics and Ecology. Corfu, Greece. May 29-June 2, 2011.
• Session Chair. Soil Metagenomics. Argonne International Workshop on Soil Metagenomics. Argonne, IL. October 4-7, 2010.
• Session chair. Bacterial Genetics and Ecology. Corfu, Greece. May 29-June 2, 2011.

Advisory Positions

• LBNL- Earth Sciences Division Professional Staff Committee (from 2010)
• LBNL Professional staff committee (from 2011)
• LBNL Awards committee (from 2011)
• DOE-BER evaluation panel for Young Investigator Awards (2010)
• Nominated to participate in LBNL Emerging Leader Program (2011)
• Advisory panel in planning of DOE Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE) in the arctic, including workshop in Alaska, October 2011.
• Advisory panel in ICiS Metagenomics workshop. Snowbird, Utah, July 19-23, 2011
• Advisory panel in NIH-HMP Brainstorming panel. Bethesda, MD. April 21, 2011.

Review panel for Argonne National Laboratory. September, 2011

Other Experience and Commissions of Trust

• Vice Dean, Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Sweden (2007)
• Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, National Committee for Biology (2006-2007)
• Swedish representative for the International Union of Biological Sciences (2006-2007)
• Frequent invited evaluator and reviewer of research projects for the European Commission (2003-2007)
• Coordinator of EU project: “MAREP, Marker/reporter genes in Microbial Ecology” with 26 partners from 11 different countries (1997-1999)
• Coordinator of the Swedish Network of Excellence: Uppsala Microbiomics Center (2006-2007)
• Member of the Swedish Gene Technology Advisory Board (2000-2006)
• Conference organizer for the 10^th Symposium on Bacterial Genetics and Ecology (BAGECO-10), with 320 participants. Uppsala, Sweden. 2009

Scientific Journal Editorial Board Memberships (from 1999)

• Co-Editor-in-Chief of The ISME Journal (from 2009)
• Editor of FEMS Microbiology Ecology (1996-2004)
• Editorial Board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (from 2005)
• Editorial Board of FEMS Microbiology Ecology (from 2006)
• Editorial Board of Environmental Microbiology (from 2006)
• Editorial Board of International Society of Microbial Ecology Journal (from 2007)
• Editorial Board of Current Opinion in Biotechnology (from 2011)