The Denef Lab integrates metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, and metaproteomic approaches with process-level measurements to gather an improved understanding of microbial population dynamics and community functioning within ecosystem context. We are particularly interested in the connections between genomic variation, altered ecological behavior, and shifts in ecosystem functioning, and how they are impacted by short- and long-term environmental change. While Vincent Denef brings a history of studying these concepts in systems ranging from abandoned mines to the human gastrointestinal tract, the lab is currently focusing on freshwater systems such as the Laurentian Great Lakes.

(photo by Apparat-chik)

All pictures by V. Denef, except where noted otherwise