The Scientist - USA (2022 - Spring)

SPRING 2022 | THE SCIENTIST 29



 









Martin Domnowski explains how sequence and

formulation affect antibody self-interaction

properties, and how researchers detect these

interactions in low concentration samples.

David Apiyo, PhD

Manager of Applications Scientists

BioAnalytics Applications

Sartorius

SPEAKERS

Martin Domnowski, PhD

Pharmaceutical Technology

and Biopharmaceutics

Ludwig Maximilian University

WEDNESDAY,

MARCH 16, 2022

10:00 AM–11:00 AM

EASTERN TIME

WATCH HERE

the-scientist.com/strategies-for-the-rapid-assessment-of-antibody-self-interactions

MASUMI STADLER

shifted over space and time. For example,

there was a higher proportion of reactive

bacteria in the summer than in the spring-

time. Stanford University ecologist Tadashi

Fukami, who was not involved with the

study, says this was a creative way to com-

bine two different ways of characterizing

microbial communities.

A common belief about bacterial com-

munities, says Stadler, “is that the most

abundant bacteria are the most active.” But

her work, as well as findings from other

groups, suggests that very rare micro-

organisms can also be very active—and that

researchers might be missing something

important if they exclude less-abundant

bacterial species from their analyses.

A more unexpected result, Stadler

says, was that the reactive bacterial taxa

the team first identified in soil samples

made up the biggest proportion of the

reactive bacteria in almost every habi-

tat—even in the salty estuary. She says

the team had expected that the soil bac-

teria would just wash from the riverbanks

downstream and become inactive once in

an aquatic habitat. Stadler says the next

step is to experimentally test how various

bacterial taxa interact with the organic

matter in their respective habitats.

Overall, this kind of work helps address

one of the most basic questions in ecology,

says Fukami: why certain taxa live in cer-

tain places. “Even though the question is

simple,” he says, “the answer is often very

difficult to get.” —Annie Melchor

FROM SHORE TO SHORE: The team measured

variation among microbial communities taken

from soil, groundwater, and river water.