Abstract :
Microbial activities control waste degradation, methane production, and contaminant fate in municipal landfills. Using metagenomic and computational biology methods, we examined the diversity, host-interactions, and genetic systems of microbes and viruses across three North American landfills. We identified key players in the methane cycle across three decades of landfill waste decomposition. From giant viral genomes to streamlined CRISPR-Cas systems, municipal landfills housed unique, and surprising viral ecology. Landfills, as heterogeneous contaminated sites with unique selective pressures, are key locations for diverse microbial communities and atypical virus-host dynamics.
Biography:
Dr. Laura Hug: Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology. Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Hug’s research examines the diversity and function of microbial communities in contaminated sites using a combination of ‘omics approaches and enrichment culturing. Current research in her group is characterizing the microbial communities colonizing municipal landfills, with foci on methane cycling, bioplastics degradation, and community interactions. Dr. Hug’s work has been featured in major news outlets including the New York Times, the Atlantic, Discover Magazine, and on Public Radio International’s “The World”. She was a featured scientist on a TFO children’s show and the BBC Radio 4 program, “Bacteria, the tiny giants” in 2023.