Dr. Huang Microbial Ecology Lab
Our Research
With the vast functional and metabolic diversity, microorganisms are integral to all the earth’s ecosystems; however, they change constantly throughout time and space. Meanwhile, the intensive human activities and global climate changes pose great challenges and complications for the understanding of their dynamics and the quantification of their roles in contributing to ecosystem functions and health. Hence, my research has aimed to explore the roles that microorganisms play in adapting to and mitigation of global changes. using the combination of classical techniques (qPCR, amplicon sequence, isotopes), state-of-the-art omics (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metabolomics), and bioinformatic tools (high-performance computing, Python, snakemake, R program).
To be specific, my research is in the interface among Microbial Ecology, Bioinformatics, and Environmental/Soil Science in the changing world, and spans two directions:
(1) Community/restoration ecology--an assembly of the soil microbiome in diverse ecosystems and their response (resistance and resilience) to the changing environments;
(2) Microbial evolution and diversification--evolution and diversification of microbiome related to nitrifiers and denitrifiers, and their controls on global nitrogen cycling and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the links to soil fertility and health.
