IIMB at LSU - About

Louisiana State University – Initiative in Integrative Microbial Biology

LSU’s Initiative in Integrative Microbial Biology (IIMB) brings together more than forty scientists from seven departments and five colleges and schools that represent diverse research and instructional programs emphasizing prokaryotic and eukarotic microbes. Participating units include the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pathobiology, Plant Pathology, Soil Science, Geological Sciences and Oceanography.

IIMB faculty conduct collaborative research in microbial biogeochemistry and geomicrobiology; basic microbial physiology and genetics; environmental microbiology and bioremediation; host-microbe interactions in plants and animals including aspects of disease.

IIMB faculty also collaborate to provide diverse undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered through multiple departments.

News and Events

"Integrating microbial biology with the National Ecological Observatory Network" Workshop
IIMB, the Department of Biological Sciences and LSU hosted a workshop from 14-17 February at the Lod Cook Conference Center. The workshop, "Integrating microbial biology with the National Ecological Observatory Network", brought together a group of about 60 prominent microbial ecologists along with NEON scientists to develop a set of recommendations to help NEON establish critical observations about microbes.

NEON (see www.neoninc.org) is an NSF-sponsored facility currently in the last stages of planning before a construction phase that is ultimately intended to establish 20 cores sites plus satellite sites around the U.S. Each of the sites will be heavily instrumented and conduct a wide range of environmental analyses.

Collectively, observations from the NEON platform will provide unprecedented regional- to continental-scale information about a wide range of ecological and biological processes, and their responses to climate change and other anthropogenic changes. Data from the network promises to transform our understanding of ecology at multiple levels, and to provide key information needed for policy-makers and managers.

Microbes play prominent roles in many of the areas for which NEON is intended to provide data, e.g., biodiversity, land use, biogeochemistry, and infectious disease. Results from the workshop will help establish what microbial variables need to be measured and how best to do so..

The workshop was organized by G.M. King, who chaired a committee consisting of:
Dr. C. Giardina (U.S. Forest Service, Hilo, HI), Dr. R. Kao (NEON, Inc.), Dr. M. Keller (NEON, Inc.), Dr. L. Kinkel (Univ. Minn), Dr. J. Schimel (UC-Santa Barbara), Dr. K. Scow (UC-Davis), Dr. J. Tiedje (Michigan State), and Dr. E. Triplett (Univ. Fl).