What in the world am I doing in Germany?

Some of you may have no idea why I am in Germany or what I am doing here. This blog is for you. I am here working on my PhD in chemical ecology. I am at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. (The university is celebrating its 450th anniversary this year!) I am also part of the International Leibniz Research School (http://www.ilrs.hki-jena.de) I am studying the chemically mediated interactions between green algae and their associated microbial community.

That's my algae (Dictyosphaeria ocellata).

I am using a molecular technique called denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) to profile the microbial community associated with the algae and comparing that to the microbial community in the surrounding seawater.

This is a DGGE image. Each band represents one species of bacteria.

I am also looking for chemicals that regulate the interactions between the algae and the microbes.


Basically, I left Florida to go to Germany to study algae that live in Florida!