Complex microbial communities and their metabolic activities have critical functions in virtually all of Earth’s ecosystems, including the human body. The Mohn lab seeks to better understand some of these communities and the mechanisms by which they impact humans and the planet. In particular, we focus on forest soil communities as well as communities in the gut and lung. We also study particular types of microbial metabolism, including the degradation of lignocellulose and steroids. We employ a combination of culturing, genetic, genomic, metagenomic and isotopic approaches to elucidate microbial communities and metabolism. This work has applications in forest management, conversion of biomass to useful chemicals and fuels as well as the prevention and treatment of disease.

Projects
• Microbial controls on terrestrial organic matter subsidies to the coastal ocean
• Gut microbiome – immune system interactions in asthma
• Biorefining lignin to commercial chemicals
• Microbial catabolism of steroids, from enzymes to ecosystems
• Forest renewal practices for our changing climate
• Effects of forest harvesting on soil microbial diversity and metabolic potential
• The skin microbiome and aging

Lab website