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Summary: Number 16 Spring 2007
UUGGAA CCAAPPSSUULLEE
DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
New Large Microbiology Research Grants Focus on
Plasmids, Life on the Edge, and on Biodefense
Anne Summers is the team
leader of a new NSF-supported
study on plasmids as agents of
genetic transfer to create biodiversity
important to agriculture and to ecology.
Plasmids enable ongoing evolution of
bacteria and other organisms via
horizontal gene transfer, yet they are
understudied. Anne notes "this is the
first major grant awarded by any federal
agency specifically for genomic studies
of these ubiquitous mobile genetic
elements". The project addresses
plasmids isolated directly from freshly-
obtained and carefully-preserved
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