Carol D. Litchfield
Welcome!
George Mason University , Fairfax
Campus
4400 University Dr., Fairfax, VA, 22030
Department of Biology
, MSN 3E1
David King, Rm. 3032; Prince William I 447
Research Interests
My
research interests are on the extremophiles - especially those microorganisms
that grow at high salt concentrations. There is a large community of Bacteria
and Archaea that either require or grow well at salt concentrations 5 to 12
times that of seawater. Many of these can also grow at salt concentrations
approaching those below seawater salt levels.What makes this possible, how widely
distributed are these microbes, what are the genetic differences between them
and their nonsalt-loving relatives? A corollary to this interest is
biodegradation. Can any of these salt-loving bacteria be used to degraded
industrial salt-containing effluents and what about petroleum degradation from
the produced water at oil fields? Students in my lab, both undergraduate and
graduate, are working on these questions as well as investigating pyrene (a
hard to degrade component of crude oil) degradation.
Courses
Biol. 401/501-Microbial Diversity:
An Organismal Approach
Biol. 402-Applied and Industrial
Microbiology
Biol. 403-Techniques in Applied
and Industrial
Microbiology
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Related Links |
Course Materials |
Biol. 576 -Microbiology
Ecology of Soil
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Course Materials |
Biol.
610 -Bioremediation: Theory and Application
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Related Links |
Biol. 611 -Techniques in
Environmental Microbiology