Cory Padilla, Ph.D.

I am a Ph. D. student in Dr. Frank Stewart’s lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I broadly investigate microbial diversity and functionality in the oceans. I am interested in how the diversity and activity of microorganisms facilities the movement of global elemental cycles.

To explore these topics I employ next-gen sequencing coupled with a broad range of classical oceanographic and molecular techniques to generate a comprehensive view of microbial gene content and transcriptional activity in the oceans. Coupling these data to chemical profiles, chemical utilization rates, and redox gradients enable us to gain new and exciting insight into elemental turnover governed by microorganisms.
   

 My dissertation focuses on characterizing methane cycling in marine water column governed by microbes in regions with low oxygen content, known as oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). OMZs constitute the largest pool of methane in oceanic water columns. Despite the enrichment of methane and lack of oxygen, OMZs act as an oxidizing power that scrubs most of the methane out of the water before it can escape as gas to the atmosphere. Little is known about how this process occurs or the microbes that facilitate methane loss. Investigating shifts in both taxonomic and functional pathways implicated methane utilization across redox gradients can inform us on how microbes can act as a filter for this greenhouse gas. Furthermore characterizing potential connections between methane consumption to other elemental cycles, such as nitrogen, in these regions is important for constraining global chemical inventories and turnover times.
     

I am also involved in many other interesting projects in the lab. These include anaerobic ammonium oxidation, oxygen cycling, and particulate-associated microbial chemical transformations in diverse OMZs. I also work on niche partitioning and characterizing the diversity of ecotypes within microbial clades including SAR11 and deep-sea Pseudomonas species. Utilizing marine science as a platform for educational outreach is another key interest facilitated by my work in the Stewart Lab. These projects encompass my interests of extrapolating genomes to biomes and understanding environmental gradients as key drivers in microbial diversity and functioning.