Lauren Lui

Divisions

Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology

• Molecular EcoSystems Biology

Biography

Lauren was born and raised in Northern California.  She received her BS in Mathematical and Scientific Computation from UC Davis and her PhD in Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics from UC Santa Cruz.

Research Interests

By working at the interface of microbiology and computational science, I study how microbial communities affect biogeochemical element cycling and how they respond to environmental changes and pressures.  Understanding biogeochemical cycling is critical for understanding the flow of energy and matter between major reservoirs of the Earth, such as the atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial ecosystems.  Organisms transform matter to obtain nutrients they need to survive, and this transformed matter is used by other organisms.  Biogeochemical cycling research gives us insight into how we affect the earth and its organisms, and how they affect us.

I am developing computational and experimental methods to help us better interrogate and quantify microbial community members (bacteria, archaea, and viruses) to more accurately model population dynamics.   Namely, I am developing methods to improve long read metagenomics sequencing and assembly.

• Microbial Ecology
• Subsurface and Marine Microbiology
• Long reads for isolate and metagenomics assembly
• Metagenomics – improving assembly and analysis methods

Programs & Initiatives

• ENIGMA - Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies
  
• LDRD - Ecogenomics and impact of viruses, plasmids, and strains on estuarine microbiome function