SES seminar - Dr. Nagissa Mahmoudi

The SES Department Seminar Series, is pleased to host Dr. Nagissa Mahmoudi on March 8th, 2024 for a talk entitled "Picky eaters:  exploring the selective diet of marine microorganisms in past and present oceans". 

The SES Dept seminar committee warmly invites you to join in person in Alex 265 at 12 pm, where light refreshments will be served. The talk will also be held hybrid via Teams (E-mail for link).

Dr. Nagissa Mahmoudi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill University.  She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and completed her Ph.D at McMaster University. Subsequently, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University where she developed new approaches to investigate the microbial controls on organic carbon transformation in marine environments. Dr. Mahmoudi’s research program employs a variety of field and laboratory-based tools to gain insight into microbial pathways and interactions that underpin carbon cycling in marine environments.  

You can learn more about Dr. Mahmoudi's work on her website.

Abstract

Marine sediments cover almost ~75% of the Earth’s surface and are one of the largest global reservoirs of organic carbon. Microorganisms play a primary role in the decomposition of organic matter in marine sediments. Consequently, the activity of these microorganisms can have profound impacts on both local and global biogeochemical cycles. A major question in carbon biogeochemistry is determining what controls the accessibility or bioavailability of organic matter to microorganisms. It is not clear whether microorganisms themselves are ultimately controlling the degradation rate or whether it depends primarily on chemical and physical properties of the compounds and/or the depositional setting and sediment composition. In this presentation, I will focus on new insights into the dynamics of organic matter degradation using novel isotopic approaches and explore how microbial metabolic potential and interactions can influence carbon mobilization in modern and ancient oceans.