Topics in Ecological and Environmental Microbiology

Part I. Microbial Ecology

• Principles of Microbial Ecology
• Microbial Food Webs
• Biofilms
• Microbial Mats
• Horizontal Gene Transfer: Uptake of Extracellular DNA by Bacteria
• Picoeukaryotes
• Algal Blooms
• Environmental Viral Pool
• Aeromicrobiology
• Endophytic Microbes

Part II. Metabolism and Behavior of Diverse Microbes

• Methanogenesis
• Methanotrophy
• Microbial Photosynthesis
• Regulation of Carbon Assimilation
• Microbial Resistance to Heavy Metals
• Microbial Adhesion
• Bacterial Bioluminescence
• Magnetotaxis
• Quorum Sensing
• Chemotaxis

Part III. Microbial Habitats

• Acid Environments
• Hot environments
• Cold Environments
• Dry Environments (including Cryptoendoliths)
• Marine Habitats
• High-Pressure Habitats
• The Deep Sub-surface
• Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents
• Freshwater Habitats
• Low-Nutrient Environments
• Sediment Habitats
• The Rhizosphere

Part IV. Biogeochemical Cycles and their Consequences

• The Nitrogen Cycle
• The Phosphorus cycle
• The Sulfur Cycle
• Cycling of Some Redox-Active Metals
• Heavy Metal Pollutants: Environmental and Biotechnological Aspects

Part V. Biotechnological Topics

• Biodeterioration-including Cultural Heritage
• Bisensors
• Gnotiobiotic and Axenic Animals
• Microbial Corrosion
• Petroleum Microbiology
• Metal Extraction and Biomining
• Industrial Water Treatment
• Wastewater Treatment of Non-Infectious Hazards
• Drinking Water
• Spacecraft Associated Microbes
• Biological Warfare

Prof. Schmidt has been investigating the structure, function and dynamics of microbial communities in natural ecosystems for over 20 years, most recently focusing on microbial communities in the human GI tract. His group helped pioneer the methods for culture-independent metagenomic analyses and continues to refine and apply these methods to track microbial populations in nature. In 2015, he initiated the Michigan Microbiome project with the goal of elucidating principles underlying the structure, function, and dynamics of the human microbiome. The ultimate goal of this project is to manage microbiomes to benefit human health. His laboratory has also pioneered methods for cultivation of bacteria under alternative atmospheres, including low oxygen environments.
He is full Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan; committee member at the American Academy for Microbiology and American Society for Microbiology; editorial board member for a number of journals, including Annual Reviews of Microbiology, and was Section Editor on the 3rd edition of Encyclopedia of Microbiology. Dr. Schaechter is a Distinguished Professor, Emeritus at Tufts University, where he served as chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology from 1970 to 1993. He has worked on bacterial growth physiology and the relationship of the chromosome and the bacterial cell membrane. He has authored ten treatises and textbooks, most in collaboration with others, plus a book for the general public, In the Company of Mushrooms. He has served as President of the American Society for Microbiology. Currently, he is Adjunct Professor Emeritus, Biology Department, at San Diego State University and Visiting Scholar at the University of California, San Diego.