Earth Sciences Division Staff: Kristen DeAngelis

Biographical Summary

I received my PhD in Microbiology from University of California, Berkeley in 2006 with Mary K. Firestone and Steven E. Lindow as my advisers. My research involved the interactions of plants and soil bacteria in the rhizosphere, with a focus on the hypothesis that the bacterial group behavior quorum sensing was a potential control point in rhizosphere soil N availability. My approach included using tools to ask questions regarding the microbial ecology of the system while simultaneously isolating organisms and querying the individual physiological capacity of the system.

Currently I am a postdoc under the LBNL Seaborg Fellows program, working mostly in Earth Sciences Division and Life Sciences Division. My current projects are: in collaboration with Terry Hazen and Whendee Silver (UCB), tropical forest soils as reservoir for new biofuels-decomposing microorganisms; in collaboration with Tamas Torok, cultivating novel anaerobic lignocellulose degrading bacteria; in collaboration with Terry Hazen and Manfred Auer, biofilm formation of lignin-degrading microorganisms in tropical forest soils; in collaboration with Janet Jansson and Mark Waldrop (USGS), microbial ecology of melting permafrost in the Alaskan tundra; in collaboration with Gary Andersen and Nian Wang (UFl), microbial ecology of xylem microbial communities that potentially cause citrus greening disease.

Education

• Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, October 1, 2007 to present
  • Research in the Earth Sciences Projects in collaboration with
    • Drs. Whendee Silver (UC Berkeley) & Terry Hazen (LBNL): tropical forest soils decomposition; tropical forest microorganisms as reservoir for new enzyme activity
    • Drs. Gary Andersen (LBNL) & Nian Wang (U Florida): xylem microbial ecology and investigation of putative pathogen for citrus greening disease
    • Drs. Mark Waldrop (USGS) & Janet Janssen (LBNL): effect of global climate change, warming and flooding, on permafrost microbial community composition and activity
• Theoretical & Practical Course on Molecular Approaches for in situ Biodegradation, May 24 - Jun 7, 2009
  • Sponsored by The United States - European Commission Task Force on Biotechnology Research, and directed by Drs. Joseph Suflita and Kathleen Duncan, at University of Oklahoma, Norman OK.
• Woods Hole Summer Course in Microbial Diversity, Teaching Assistant, June 4 - Aug 3, 2007
  • Mentoring the molecular biology labs and teaching DNA extraction techniques, phylogenetic identification and classification, use of arb and other database tool as well as other phylogenetic tools, tree-building techniques, and batch eukaryotic fermentation reactions.
• Postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, Jan 1 – June 10, 2006
  • With Drs. Whendee Silver and Mary Firestone, investigation into the role of fluctuating reduction-oxidation cycles to control microbial community structure and function, with emphasis on iron cycling and methanogenesis.
• University of California, Berkeley, PhD Microbiology, December 19 2006
  • Advisors: Mary Firestone and Steven Lindow. Advanced to Candidacy May 2002.
    • Coursework
      • General Microbiology, Soil Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology
      • Analysis of Environmental Data, Perl for Bioinformatics
      • Biogeochemistry, Nitrogen Stable Isotopes, Microbial Ecology
• Doctoral Dissertation
  • Title: “Microbial community ecology and bacterial quorum sensing and as control points in rhizosphere nitrogen cycling.” Download: http://nature.berkeley.edu/~kristen/KMD_PhD_2006.pdf
• Woods Hole Summer Course in Microbial Diversity, student, June 12-August 1, 2003
  • Isolation, characterization, and identification of bacteria and archaea in the environment, with emphasis on metabolic adaptability, environmental effects, and community interactions.
• Harvard University, B.A. Biology, 1997
  • Coursework included molecular and cellular biology, evolutionary and organismic biology, organic chemistry, philosophy of biology, psychobiology, and multivariable calculus

Professional Experience

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, October 2007 – present
• Postdoctoral Researcher, UC Berkeley, January – June 2007
• Graduate Student, UC Berkeley, Aug 2000 – present
• Research Technician, James Berger Lab, UC Berkeley, Oct 1998 – Jun 2000
• Research Technician, Children’s Hospital Boston, Clinical Chemistry, Jun 1997 – Aug 1998
• Research Assistant, Harvard Medical School, Devel. & Molecular Neurobiol., May – Sept 1996

Honors and Awards

• Best Student Paper Soil Ecology Section, Ecological Society of America Meeting, August 2006
• Raymond W. Sarber Award, American Society of Microbiology, May 2006
• Outstanding Contribution, Roche Scientific Diagnostics, 1998
• Faculty of Arts and Science Scholar, Harvard University, 1994

Grants and Fellowships

• JGI CSP, “Metagenomics of Permafrost Soil Microbiota - Implications for Climate Change”, 2009
• Glenn T. Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellowship, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 2007
• National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2004
• Environmental Protection Agency Science-to-Achieve-Results (EPA STAR) Fellowship, 2003
• Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid Research Award, 2002
• UC Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology Travel Grant, 2002

Professional Service

• Peer Review of Academic Publications
  • International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal – since 2008
  • FEMS Microbiology Ecology – since 2007
  • Soil Biology and Biochemistry – since 2007
  • Functional Ecology Journal – since 2007
• Peer Review of Grant Award Competitions
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK, January 2009
  • National Science Foundation Annual Merit Review, October 20008
  • U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation, July 2008
  • Swiss National Science Foundation, June 2008
  • NSF/USDA Microbial Genome Sequencing Program, March 2008
• Berkeley Science Review Journal – sciencereview.berkeley.edu
  • 2004-2006   Contributor
  • 2003-2004   Editor and Contributor
• UC Berkeley Microbiology Student Group – pmb.berkeley.edu/~bacteria
  • 2000-2006. Annual Microbiology Interdepartmental Student Symposium Committee
  • 2000-2006. Microbiology Student Group: Chair (2002); Vice-Chair (2003)

Professional Societies

• Society for Industrial Microbiology, since 2009
• American Association for the Advancement of Science, since 2006
• Ecological Society of America, since 2002
• International Society for Microbial Ecology, since 2002
• American Society for Microbiology, since 2000

Teaching

• 2009 Summer. LBNL Mentor, Center for Science and Education (CSEE) Berkeley Lab Undergraduate Research Summer Internship Program (BLUR)
• 2008 Spring. Guest Lecturer, Microbial communications in nature. ESPM 131, Soil Microbial Ecology with Prof. Dr. Celine Palud
• 2008 Spring. Guest Lecutures, Soil microbial ecology. Part 1: What are soils, Part 2: Microbial ecology of soils. ESPM 112, Microbial Ecology with Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Almeida
• 2007 Summer. Teaching assistant at Microbial Diversity Course, Woods Hole. Directors Tom Schmidt (Michigan State U) and Bill Metcalf (U Illinoise). Guest lectures including “Rhizosphere microbiology and microbial ecology,” and “Multivariate statistical methods in microbial community analyses.”
• Mentor to undergraduate and honors thesis research
  • 2006 Summer & Fall: Hieu Pham, “Community dynamics of archaea in mesophilic rhizosphere soil.”
  • 2004-05 Academic year: Cynthia C. Cox, “Seasonal and plant-variation in phyllosphere bacterial communities.”
  • 2002 Summer: Helen Ha, “Rhizosphere microbial community analysis by culturing.”
• 2006 Spring. Guest Lecturer, Microbial communications in nature. ESPM 131, Soil Microbial Ecology with Profs. Mary K. Firestone and Tom Bruns
• 2005 August to December.  Advisor for undergraduate honors thesis research, Cynthia Cox.  Topic: Comparative analysis of leaf-surface microbial communities using T-RFLP 16S rRNA fingerprinting method of directly extracted versus cultured bacteria
• 2003 Fall. Reader for MCB 112 (cross-listed in PMB): General Microbiology
• 2003 Spring. Guest Lecturer, Overview of genetics and physiology of Bacteria. Industrial Design “Biomimicry” at the California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, CA with Professor Sue Redding.   
• 2002 Fall. Graduate Student Instructor, MCB 112 (cross-listed in PMB): General Microbiology
• 2002 Fall. Guest Lecturer. The Nitrogen Cycle: Dissimilatory and Assimilatory Processes.  MCB 112, General Microbiology with Professor Antje Hofmeister
• 2001 Fall. Graduate Student Instructor, Biology 1B: Evolution, Ecology and Plant Biology with Professors Glenys Thomson, Todd Dawson, and Carla D’Antonio