Below are recent publications by IM students, faculty, and affiliates. Would you like your research showcased? Send your paper to nlambrec@iastate.edu in time for the next edition!

*Indicates ISU faculty and affiliates 

^Indicates publications by IM students

^Lambrecht, N., Wittkop, C., Katsev, S., Fakhraee, M., & *Swanner, E. D.(2018). Geochemical characterization of two ferruginous meromictic lakes in the Upper Midwest, USA. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

Importance of this work: This contribution highlights two lakes that are analogs to early Earth oceans. The geochemical conditions of Archean and Proterozoic oceans changed over time, and in order to study dynamics of early Earth, modern study sites are needed with various geochemical parameters. The field sites described are the first early Earth analogs to be characterized in North America.

^Maki, J. J.,& *Looft, T. (2018). Megasphaera stantonii sp. nov., a butyrateproducing bacterium isolated from the cecum of a healthy chicken. International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology.

Importance of this work: Understanding how microbial communities in the poultry gut impact animal health, production, and food safety is essential for support of the industry. The characterization of M. stantonii, provides the first biochemical and genomic information about this genus in poultry and adds new data to what is known about this group of bacteria. Studies like these improve our understanding of the organisms that are present in the chicken gut and what roles they play in animal nutrition and health.

Stromberg, Z. R., Van Goor, A., ^Redweik, G. A., Brand, M. J. W., *Wannemuehler, M. J., & *Mellata, M. (2018). Pathogenic and nonpathogenic Escherichia coli colonization and host inflammatory response in a defined microbiota mouse model. Disease models & mechanisms.

Importance of this work: To understand human diseases and test the effectiveness of vaccines, mice often are used. However, when it comes to researching ways to fight harmful strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the gut, there was not a good mouse model.This research identifies a useful mouse model to study harmful strains of E. coli. In contrast to current mouse models, harmful E. coli was maintained in the altered Schaedler flora (ASF) mouse gut for the entirety of the study. Furthermore, using special imaging to check for inflammation in the mice, it was determined these mice could exhibit signs of EHEC infection seen in humans.