People – Rowe Lab

PI: Dr. Annette R. Rowe (Annie)

I fell into my love of the microbial world at a young age. In my youth being the offspring of two physicians, I found myself fascinated with the microbes (mainly viruses and bacteria) that can wreak havoc on our bodies. However, these pathogens really make up a small (though not unimportant) part of the microbial world. And the unseen majority of microbes can often have profound effects, that are essential to our lives and the health of our planet. Combining this realization with discovering a real love for molecular biology and biochemistry, the pursuit of studying microbes and their metabolism became obvious—because that is where all the crazy cool stuff is happening. The diversity of microbes and their corresponding physiologies or metabolisms (things they eat and breath) are numerous, and I’m pretty sure will keep me busy for as long time.

My research history has been very cross-disciplinary, though my focus has always been on the microbial world. I’ve worked in laboratory settings and performed research in Molecular and Cell biology, Ecology and Evolution, Environmental Engineering, Soil Sciences, Marine Ecology, Earth Sciences and most recently Biophysics.

Postdocs:

Josh Sackett

Josh received a Masters for the University of Colorado, Denver, and his PhD from UNLV working with Duane Moser at the Desert Research Institute. He has worked on a variety of microbial ecology projects in bioremediation and deep subsurface microbiology including working with the NASA Astrobiology Institute Life Underground team. In 2020 he received an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to work on electron transfer in marine sediment microbial communities.