Fall 2025 PSM/HRT Seminar Series: Invited Speaker Dr Jan Jansson
November 5, 2025 12:00PM - 1:00PM
PSSB A 271 Conference Room
Hosts Dr Jim Teidje and Dr Jim Moran invite you to bring your lunch and meet Dr Janet Jansson for her presentation:
I am Dr. Janet Jansson, Emeritus Chief Scientist for Biology and Laboratory Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). My research focuses on the impacts of perturbations, such as oil spills, climate change and space flight on environmental microbiomes and viruses and impacts of diet and disease on the human microbiome.
My talk will describe our study of the impact of the space environment on soil microorganisms. We conducted a replicated experiment at the Kennedy Space Center and the International Space Station to demonstrate how microgravity impacted soil microbial community dynamics. We used a multi-comics approach to determine how an 8-member soil microbial consortium behaved in space compared to Earth. The results revealed that the community dynamics were delayed in space when compared to Earth. Some species were either significantly enriched or depleted in space. We hypothesize that microgravity conditions impacted different species differently - depending on mobility and defense mechanisms that were expressed. The results of this study have broader implications for use of soil microorganisms to support plant growth during extended space periods.
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