Edward DeLong
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Edward Francis DeLong (born 1958), is a marine
microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...
and professor in the Department of
Oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...
at the
University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
,
Manoa Manoa (, ; ) is a valley on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is a residential neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from downtown Honolulu and less than a mile (1600 m) from ...
, and is considered a pioneer in the field of
metagenomics Metagenomics is the study of all genetics, genetic material from all organisms in a particular environment, providing insights into their composition, diversity, and functional potential. Metagenomics has allowed researchers to profile the mic ...
. He is best known for his discovery of the bacterial use of the
rhodopsin Rhodopsin, also known as visual purple, is a protein encoded by the ''RHO'' gene and a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). It is a light-sensitive receptor protein that triggers visual phototransduction in rod cells. Rhodopsin mediates dim ...
protein in converting sunlight to biochemical energy in marine microbial communities.


Early life and education

DeLong was born in Sonoma, California. He studied biology at
Santa Rosa Junior College Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) is a public community college in Santa Rosa, California with an additional campus in Petaluma and centers in surrounding Sonoma County. SRJC is governed by the Sonoma County Junior College District. History F ...
and obtained an
Associate of Science Associate may refer to: Academics * Associate degree, a two-year educational degree in the United States, and some areas of Canada * Associate professor, an academic rank at a college or university * Technical associate or Senmonshi, a Japa ...
degree in 1980. While continuing his education at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...
, DeLong had originally planned on becoming a medical technologist, but after a meeting and working as an undergraduate researcher with bacteriologist Paul Baumann, he found a new interest in marine microbiology. He graduated with a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree in bacteriology at UCD in 1982 and moved to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where he received a Ph.D. in
marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and ...
after finishing doctoral work with Art Yayanos in 1986. DeLong completed his postdoctoral training at Indiana University in Bloomington with Norman Pace, where he surveyed communities of
picoplankton Picoplankton is the fraction of plankton composed by cell (biology), cells between 0.2 and 2 μm that can be either prokaryotic and eukaryotic phototrophs and heterotrophs: * photosynthetic * heterotrophic They are prevalent amongst microbial p ...
via
DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The ...
.


Work

With Pace and his group at Indiana University, DeLong developed a method that can be used to identify single cells phylogenetically through the use of
phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
stains. These
rRNA Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosomal ...
-based probes identify the cells based on the binding of fluorescent probes to individual cells through use of oligonucleotides that are complementary to 16S rRNA sequences of specific phylogenetic groups. The use of multiple probes with different fluorescent dyes allows for the identification of different cell types in the same field. DeLong subsequently expanded upon this work and applied gene cloning and sequencing to the study of complex marine microbial communities and their role in the
biosphere The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...
. These techniques carried significance in that microbes could be studied without the use of a standard microbial culture. After receiving an independent study award in 1989, DeLong spent some time at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and would later on become
associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...
in the Biology and Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Departments at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
. DeLong's surveys during his time at UCSB led him to participate in the study of widespread abundance and diversity of marine archaea in the world's oceans. Prior to 1992, archaea were thought only to exist in the extreme environments of hypersaline lakes, hydrothermal vents, and similar places. This changed the general view of the scientific community on the role of archaea in the biosphere and opened up new possibilities in applied potential of such microbial assemblages. In the years following, DeLong's work took him to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and it is during his time there that he made a crucial discovery in the understanding of the Earth's carbon and energy cycles. A team of microbiologists led by DeLong discovered a gene in several species of bacteria responsible for production of the protein
rhodopsin Rhodopsin, also known as visual purple, is a protein encoded by the ''RHO'' gene and a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). It is a light-sensitive receptor protein that triggers visual phototransduction in rod cells. Rhodopsin mediates dim ...
, previously unheard of in the domain
Bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
. These proteins found in the cell membranes are capable of converting light energy to biochemical energy due to a change in configuration of the rhodopsin molecule as sunlight strikes it, causing the pumping of a
proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...
from inside out and a subsequent inflow that generates the energy.''Bacteria with Batteries'', Popular Science magazine, January 2001, Page 55. In 2004, DeLong moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on developing gene expression studies targeting microbial communities in the wild. At MIT, his collaborations with CMORE and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute colleagues, he discovered of highly synchronized microbial populations having oscillating patterns of gene expression across many species. In 2014, DeLong relocated to the University of Hawaii, where he serves as co-director for the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education, C-MORE and the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology, SCOPE.


Honoraria, fellowships, and memberships

*Honorary Professorship,
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
, Australia, 1999–2002 *Elected Fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology, August 2000 *Moore Investigator in Marine Microbiology, August, 2004 *Elected Fellow in the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
, May 2005 *In April 2008, DeLong was presented with the Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal for “important contributions to geomicrobiology and biogeochemical cycling through the innovative use of molecular tools and a genomic approach” at the European Geosciences Union *Elected Fellow in the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
, April 2008 *The
American Society for Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...
presented DeLong with the Procter & Gamble Award in Applied and Environmental Microbiology in May 2008 and the D.C. White Research and Mentoring Award in February 2009 *Elected Fellow in the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
, 2011 *UC Davis College of Biological Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, UC Davis, 2012 *Moore Investigator in Marine Microbiology, 2012 * A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences, 2014 *Elected Member in the European Molecular Biology Association EMBO, 2015 *Elected President of the International Society for Microbial Ecology ( ISME)


See also

*
Thermoproteota The Thermoproteota are prokaryotes that have been classified as a phylum (biology), phylum of the domain Archaea. Initially, the Thermoproteota were thought to be sulfur-dependent extremophiles but recent studies have identified characteristic T ...
* Proteorhodopsin


References


External links


DeLong Research Group Official WebsiteEdward DeLong faculty page at MITEdward DeLong Curriculum Vitae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delong, Edward 1958 births Living people American microbiologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty American science teachers Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Geomicrobiologists University of California, Davis alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology