Rika Anderson, 
Assistant Professor of Biology, has received support for no-cost gene-sequencing of microbial and viral fluid samples by the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Creek, California. In her project “Microbial and viral mediation of biogeochemical cycles from source to sink in hydrothermal vent systems,” Prof. Anderson investigates how microbes and viruses are involved in the cycling of nutrients that are produced by deep-sea hydrothermal vents and released into the broader biosphere. As lead investigator, Prof. Anderson will work with Karthik Anantharaman (Assistant Professor of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert (Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University) on the project.