Javier A. Ceja-Navarro
Affiliate Faculty
Building: 977, Room 237A
Mail Stop: 977
Phone: (510) 926-8981
JCNavarro@lbl.gov
https://hostmicrobiome.info/
Links
Research Interests
My research program is focused on the study of multitrophic interactions in ecosystems such as digestive tracts of insects and soil. Besides my scientific work, I also have a record of commitment to reducing the barriers in research for underrepresented students, including people of color, women, and LGBT individuals. Specific focus topics of research include: 1. The study of arthropods as microbial bioreactors. 2. Co-evolution of insects’ digestive tract physical structure and microbial function for the transformation of recalcitrant molecules such as lignocellulose. 3. Environmental engineering and regulation of ecosystem services driven by the multitrophic interactions among the members of the food web of complex ecosystems, their contributions to ecosystems function, and responses to environmental change.
As a scientist, my goal is to develop and apply innovations in the fields of molecular biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, and chemical engineering using multidisciplinary tools to understand the mechanisms that control multitrophic interactions in diverse biological systems. I combine my passion for the study of the arthropod microbiome with my continuing fascination with soil complexity, to work on a research line that considers the cross-kingdom interactions (the associations between bacteria, fungi, protists, and nematodes), host-microbe interactions in soil microarthropods (ticks, springtails, mites), and the effect of these associations on processes such as biogeochemical cycling, biomass conversion, the evolution of the microbiome in the environment.
Recent Publications
Related News
Congratulations to Biosciences Area Director’s Award Recipients
Numerous Biosciences Area personnel are among the 2021 Berkeley Lab Director’s Awards honorees. This annual program recognizes outstanding contributions by employees to all facets of Lab activities. A complete list of winners can be found here. The 10th annual Director’s Awards ceremony will take place on November 18 at noon.
We’ve Got the Dirt on Soil Protists
A group of scientists who study the interactions between plants and microbes have published a study detailing the dynamic relationships between soil-dwelling, single-celled organisms called protists and developing plants. Protist communities near plant roots were found to respond to the different developmental stages of switchgrass, a crop with excellent potential as a bioenergy feedstock, much like bacterial communities do.
Beetle’s Gut Microbiome is Nature’s Biorefinery
A study led by Eoin Brodie and Javier Ceja-Navarro in Berkeley Lab’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Area (EESA) provides new insights into how the wood-eating passalid beetle’s complex digestive tract and resident microbes are able to efficiently turn tough plant polymers like lignin and cellulose into food and fuel. By bringing together a team of experts—including collaborators at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—and using advanced molecular biology tools combined with spectrometry and tiny sensors, they discovered that the beetle’s gut is made up of specialized compartments, each with a distinct microbiome, that work together in a manner similar to a factory production line. “The key innovation that nature has provided here is a way to combine biochemical processes that are otherwise incompatible,” said Brodie, deputy director of EESA’s Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, who has a secondary affiliation in Biosciences’ Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) Division. The study was published in Nature Microbiology. Read more in the Berkeley Lab News Center.
