On March 16th, it is a distinct pleasure to have Dr. Lauren Schroeder with us to present a seminar. Dr. Schroeder is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Biological Sciences who continues to actively pursue his research interests after his retirement. Dr. Schroeder can often be seen traversing through the department chatting with current faculty and is a very special gentleman and a gentle man. Welcome Back, Lauren! We are looking forward to your presentation!
Dr. Schroeder’s presentation regarding diatoms was very interesting. I really liked how Dr. Schroeder started his presentation with a few lighthearted stories to captivate the audience’s attention before actually getting into describing diatoms and his research with these organisms. Diatoms are a single-celled photosynthetic algae that have a cell wall (frustule) that is composed of hydrated silicon dioxide (opal) with the frustule being composed of two valves. Furthermore, diatoms are very diverse with some 20,000 named species. Along with diatoms being well preserved in sediment, each diatom species has an environmental response curve associated with it for each environmental variable allowing this species to be favorable in paleoecological studies. The composite of all response curves is unique for each diatom species, therefore analyses of these diatoms could provide data to show what the environmental conditions were in the past by looking down the sediment levels. Dr. Schroeder and his colleagues work utilizes diatoms to analyze past conditions in Meander Reservoir via analyses of a 144cm sediment core sample collected from this source. Environmental changes could then be analyzed based on the watershed’s use and structure from its initiation in 1931 until today. I did not know a whole lot about diatoms before Dr. Schroeder’s talk, so I did a quick search before his presentation. In my search I found that there is an extensive amount of research on diatoms and a variety of commercial uses for this organism such as for use as a mild abrasive for polishing soft metals or as an additive in soaps and skin products. Dr. Schroeder said that there are a variety of applications for diatom research, such as monitoring river quality and analyzing climate change, so my question is, what other possible research/industrial applications are there for diatoms?
ReplyDeleteDr. Schroeder seems like a really cool guy. I like how he started his talk with a few lighthearted jokes. His research on diatoms seems pretty interesting too. I haven’t heard too much about them before this talk. The fact that there are 20,000 named species and an estimated 200,000 extant species that are so diverse is fascinating. In a paper I read in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology by Bozarth et al., diatoms have potential economic applications. They naturally produce substances for foodstuffs, antibiotics, and pharmaceutically active substances, which thereby makes them a “valuable resource for food supplements and substitutes for synthetic substances ranging from cosmetic chemicals to jet fuel.” Diatoms also have industrial applications, including nitrogen-fixing biofertilizer, renewable energy and raw materials production according to Bozarth and colleagues. I think the many possible applications of these tiny organisms are so captivating!
ReplyDeleteYour synopsis of Dr. Schroeder’s presentation is spot on, John. I would also add that environmental response curves are distinct for each species of diatom because they have their own optimal zones of neutrality (i.e., the foundation of niche partitioning). The basis for predicting past environments is to calibrate a modern response curve, take a sediment sample and determine diatom abundance via fossil concentration, and then compare relative abundances for past and present diatom populations. Why use diatoms? Because their glass (still sexier than opal) cell walls preserve incredibly well. Those of you that know me know that I am a huge fan of form and function. I think that diatoms are really neat, particularly because they have so many distinct morphologies. My initial reaction is to understand why. What are the evolutionary implications? Perhaps diatoms come in all shapes and sizes simply for sexual reproduction, like a lock-and-key scenario. Or perhaps their morphologies have other, more complex functions yet to be understood. As for applied research, diatoms should be sent to space. I say this because they could potentially be used to recycle carbon dioxide and produce oxygen on a space station, or even a Mars colony. Further, they could be used to fertilize crops on said space colonies via nitrogen fixation. Maybe this is entering the realm of science fiction, but science fiction does have a funny way of becoming science.
ReplyDeleteI feel like every week I keep saying that it was my favorite seminar presentation, but Dr. Schroeder’s definitely was my favorite. It was already pointed out, but the fact that he began by making us laugh with a few jokes made the entire presentation seem more casual and lighthearted and caught our attention straight from the beginning. I would willingly attend many more lectures if Dr. Schroeder were giving them.
ReplyDeleteDiatoms are something that I hadn’t known much about before this lecture, so I really enjoyed being able to see how awesome they are. Though I have to go with the unpopular opinion and say that opal is a lot cooler that glass (sorry Kyle). Either way, the uses for diatoms are incredible! Like was stated above, they can be used as abrasives, fertilization capabilities, and even for filtration methods!
What interested me the most was the upcoming research into sequencing of diatom species. This is something I would love to follow in the future and see what comes of it. I believe Kayla (unless I am mistaken) was talking about how sequencing of diatoms may be difficult due to the abrasive nature of their cell walls. I’m pretty excited to follow this research and see what comes of it.
Dr. Schroeder's lecture was very interesting. I had no prior knowledge of diatoms so I learned a lot from this presentation. Diatoms have opal cell walls and they replicated via sexual and asexual methods. They are well preserved in sediments. Each diatom species has a response curve for each environmental variable so they can be used to analyze the composition of a water entity, they are in. In other words, diatoms can be used to monitor chemical properties of water quality. In the end, Dr. Schroeder mentioned that his colleagues are interested in determining the DNA sequence for diatoms for their specific classification.
ReplyDeleteWith microbiology being one of my favorite biological sciences, I am a little embarrassed to admit I hadn't really heard of diatoms before Dr. Shroeders's fun and enlightening presentation. It does seem that what he said is true though, that there are many applications for diatoms. One which I found quite interesting is that diatoms are one of the major primary producers in the ocean, responsible annually for ~20% of photosynthetically fixed CO2 on Earth (Leblanc K et al.). In oceanic models, they mostly represent large (>20 µm) microphytoplankton. However, many diatoms belong to the nanophytoplankton (2-20 µm) and a few species even overlap with the picoplanktonic size-class (<2 µm). Even their range of sizes is pretty neat!
ReplyDeleteNot only are humans interested in using diatoms, but certain arctic bacteria will adhere to diatom cell walls and form a symbiotic microcolony with them in sea ice. (Shuaiqi Guo et al.). The bacteria bind to the diatoms and recruits them to the ice surface in which both species benefit from the proximity to each other and to a location that is optimal for photosynthesis.
One more tidbit: Despite their hardy cell walls, researchers have yet to successfully cryopreserve diatoms (Stock W et al.). Apparently DMSO, the traditional cryoprotectant, along with other tested cryoprotectants, cannot be used to preserve many diatom species. This is a shame because interest in developing certain diatom strains for commercial applications would most certainly benefit from preserving them in some way.
I really enjoyed last week’s seminar with Dr. Schroeder’s presenting his research on diatoms. His cosmic introduction gave way for an awesome presentation! I didn’t know very much about diatoms before his lecture so learning more about them was very interesting. It’s fascinating that diatoms with such a high abundance have glass cell walls. Diatoms could have many use for humans because of their properties of organic compounds and silica. Use of diatoms for filtration reasons, in swimming pools as well as filtering beverages. Diatoms can be used to trace a wide variety of environmental aspects. Overall, I believe with the such unique properties diatoms have lots of potential.
ReplyDeleteDr. Schroeder's presentation grabbed the attention of the audience right from the beginning. He had a great opening that made the feeling in the room comfortable and easy. The stories were a hoot to listen to. As he transitioned into the his presentation, I was glad he started out explaining what diatoms were. I really had no prior knowledge of them before attending his presentations. Doing some of my own online research, diatoms are present in a wide range of uses. Diatoms have been used in forensic science to identify if a person drowned. Other applications included toothpastes to clean teeth and natural pesticides. They are highly useful and beneficial even when they are dead. I think diatoms will have a great impact in the future as we discover new ways to use them.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Dr. Schroeder's lecture. He seemed to be very knowledgeable in diatoms and how certain environmental factors impact their success in a particular habitat (not to mention some pretty funny jokes!). Similar to a lot of people on this blog, I had not heard that much about any research on diatoms prior to his lecture. Now I am very interested how there are various environmental response curves for different diatom species. Similar to Kyle, I also wonder why there are so many morphologies observed among diatoms, and what, if any, potential evolutionary factors could drive to have such a diversity of forms. Could the habitat they are exposed to play a role in it? Since Dr. Schroeder talked about how the environmental factors play an important role in diatom success, I also want to know if this is associated with diatoms potentially affecting the habitat they thrive in (i.e., whether it would cause an increase or decrease of accessibility to essential resources for them).
ReplyDeleteI am kind of focused on the frustule. I think if diatoms can be artificially grown in large amounts (like those algae farms), then it is potentially a cheap and high yielding source of hydrated silica. So I looked up all the uses for hydrated silica and there are a lot, but one that requires little FDA oversight and in which purity is of less importance is use as a flame retardant supplement. Apparently hydrated silica has a synergistic effect when combined with other flame retardants. Who knew!
ReplyDeleteDr. Schroeder's presentation was very interesting and unique of kind for he portrayed the unending passion of research in his vibrant presentation. He talked of ubiquitous nature of diatom as a unicellular micro-alga that colonizes on the environment and watershed. He also mentioned his ongoing and future work on the DNA analysis that will establish a better understanding of its genome structure that will reveal its adaptive nature in a different ecological niche. Furthermore, diatoms are very essential, and they are universally used as a bio-indicator to test for water quality, treatment of sewage to remove inorganic nutrients and toxins, and irrigation as a fertilizer and pest control
ReplyDeleteDr. Schroeder’s presentation was great! Some of those jokes at the beginning were hilarious, exactly the type of nerdy stuff that I love. Anyway, I had heard of diatoms before, but didn’t know they are actually algae and definitely did not know about their scientific or industrial applications. Indeed, the research indicates that we have begun to understand enough of their genomes to indicate genes that direct their cytoskeletal compartmentalization. In the end, we might be able to “teach” them to deposit all of a certain bioproduct into a single organelle or compartment, which would make extracting and isolating said bioproduct easier. Diatoms also seem to be extremely resilient organisms, basically requiring only carbon dioxide, sunlight, and water. So I really like Kyle’s idea about using them to modify environments in space stations or even on other planets. In the end, this is similar to how our planet came to contain so much oxygen in its atmosphere. With diatoms in high enough quantities, terraforming another planet might be within our reach!
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