Laura Hug

• Microbial diversity and function
• Contaminated site microbial ecology
• Total community (meta-omic) analyses, including metagenomics (DNA), metatranscriptomics (RNA), and proteomics (proteins)
• Bioremediation

Research in the Hug lab seeks to define microbial diversity and function at contaminated sites (primarily municipal landfills). To that end, our lab sequences the total DNA, RNA, and protein (meta-omics) of a microbial community from a contaminated site to identify which species are there, and which pathways are active. We use enrichment culturing to explore microbial community interactions and to develop new bioremediation tools. The combination of genome-enabled metabolic modelling with tracking contaminant degradation in the laboratory clarifies how microbes are shaping the environment.

Beyond developing tools for environment remediation, the Hug lab examines essential questions in biology – how do organisms adapt to the harsh conditions at contaminated sites? How and when did the ability to degrade a man-made product evolve? In what ways are microbial communities more than the sum of their parts, and do these interactions drive global cycles?

Her research expands our understanding of the tree of life, while simultaneously developing solutions to address the impacts of human activities on the environment.

Please see Laura Hug’s Google Scholar profile for a current list of her peer-reviewed articles.

Professor Hug teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Course offerings have included

• BIOL346 (W) Microbial Ecology and Diversity

• BIOL645 (even numbered F) Recent Advances in Environmental Microbiology

• Kavli Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (2015)
• Post-Doctoral Fellowship, NSERC (2013-15)
• Outstanding Student Poster, American Society for Microbiology General Meeting (2012)
• Doctoral Completion Award, University of Toronto (2011)
• Yoshio Masui Prize in Molecular Biology, University of Toronto (2010)
• Canada Graduate Scholarship D Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, NSERC (2009)
• Governor General’s Gold Medal, Dalhousie University (2008)
• Canada Graduate Scholarship D, NSERC (2007-2009)
• University of Toronto Fellowship, University of Toronto (2007-2009)
• Mary H. Beatty Fellowship, University of Toronto (2007)
• Helen Sawyer Hogg Graduate Admission Award, University of Toronto (2007)
• Honourary Pre-Doctoral Scholarship, Killam Foundation (2005-2007)
• Postgraduate Scholarship M, NSERC (2005-2007)

• Canadian Society for Microbiologists Section Chair
• Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (Associate Director) 

• American Society for Microbiology
• International Society for Microbial Ecology
• Reviewer for Nature, The ISME Journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Microbiology, BMC Genomics, Microbiome, Bioinformatics, Environmental Science and Technology, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Frontiers in Environmental Science, Biodegradation, and PLoS ONE (ad hoc)
• Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (Associate Director) 

The following stories have featured Dr. Hug’s research.

• Giant burst of tiny organisms discovered on the tree of life. Scientific American and Quanta Magazine (2015)
• Chloroflexi’s role in aquifer sediments, The Primer volume 11-1, DOE Joint Genome Institute (2014)

• 2012 PhD Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto
• 2007 MSc Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University
• 2005 BSc Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Guelph