A warm welcome to USC Fuhrman Group graduate student Jelani Williams who recently joined CBIOMES.
by Helen Hill for CBIOMES
HH: In summary, what are your research interests?
JW: Microbial metabolisms are fundamental to life on Earth due to their impacts on nutrient cycling and nutrient availability in various ecosystems. Viruses are capable of rewiring the metabolism of an infected cell over short time scales in the case of lytic infection cycles and longer, perhaps even multigenerational, time scales during chronic or lysogenic viral infection modes. My research aims to use multi-omic datasets to observe the temporal dynamics of viral infection and estimate the impacts of infection on biogeochemically-relevant metabolisms. I firmly believe that this can provide critical insight into how viruses may alter the functional roles of microbes within specific communities across time.
HH: What are you currently working on?
JW: I am a PhD student in the Fuhrman lab, with growing expertise in bioinformatic tools/workflows for metagenomic/metatranscriptomic data. As it relates to CBIOMES, I am currently working alongside Daria Di Blasi, Laura Furtado, and Jed to develop a method that will provide taxonomically resolved estimates of carbon biomass from seawater samples.
HH: What is your educational background (BS, MS?)
JW: I obtained my BSc in Biochemistry (physics minor) from Ithaca College in 2020 and spent 2 years before graduate school genetically engineering biosynthetic pathways in filamentous fungi for the production of therapeutically relevant molecules.
Story image: Williams says “In my spare time, you can find me doing road trips, mountain hikes, diving, writing poetry/short stories or relaxing by the beach.”