Microbial communities are of more than just a scientific curiosity. Microbes represent the single largest source of evolutionary and biochemical diversity on the planet. They are the major agents for cycling carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements through the ecosystem.

The Heidelberg lab works to describe and understand patterns of diversity and to evaluate their qualitative and quantitative role in the food web and the cycling of elements in the environment. We use DNA and RNA based (metagenomic) technologies to evaluate microbial ecosystems, then pair these technical approaches with lab and field based studies.

Dr. Karla Heidelberg has laboratory facilities in both the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and where she lives at the Wrigley Marine Science Center (part of the Wrigely Institute for Environmental Studies) on Catalina Island.

Click here to: APPLY to the USC Graduate Program in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography!

Comments and questions: email kheidelb@usc.edu