Sean Jungbluth : Ph.D. student
After graduating college with a degree in microbiology, I worked for a brief while in the biotechnology industry before deciding to move to Hawaii to begin a PhD degree program in Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I was fortunately accepted to begin my study despite not having a rigorous marine biology background. My technical skills in the field of molecular biology combined with the serendipitous timing of my application to bring me into a project, headed by UH-Manoa professor James Cowen, which had just begun to study subseafloor microbiology.
Working closely with my advisor, UH-Manoa faculty member Michael Rappé, a bona fide microbial ecologist, we have begun to characterize the microbial communities inhabiting subseafloor crustal fluids that can be sampled using instrumentation platforms placed inside of holes drilled hundreds of meters into the deep seafloor. A combination of molecular approaches are being used to describe the subseafloor biosphere through careful interrogation of microbial DNA. We aim to answer questions such as: who is there, what are they doing, what could they be doing, how is life distributed in the subseafloor, how does it evolve, etc.
The work that I perform under the supervision of my advisor is just one part of a multifaceted approach towards understanding the nature of subseafloor crustal fluids. Our work fits within the interests of other team members focused more upon the biogeochemistry of ocean crustal fluids, and the synergy of these efforts stands to greatly enhance our understanding of life inside the seafloor and how it might influence the evolution of ocean crust.
（卉婷註：天啊！我叫他給我小小的描述，給我囉囉長的寫三大段，我只好盡量幫他翻譯一下囉。）
我從大學畢業以後在私人研究機構工作過一年多，然後我毅然決然的決定搬到夏威夷定居，我運氣很好的申請上夏威夷大學的海洋研究所，即使我完全沒有海洋方面的任何背景，會申請上的原因不外是因為我在分子生物學上的背景，（卉婷附註：他畢業於分生學相當出名的威斯康星大學），而柯恩教授正開始他的水下生物圈的研究。
我真正的直接指導教授麥克羅培先生是個環境微生物生態學家，在他的指導之下，我們開始利用分子生物學（卉婷註：利用基因證據）的方法分析海洋岩石圈中地下水的微生物族群組成。我們試圖回答：是怎樣的生物居住在流動於海洋岩石縫隙的水圈中？這些微生物作些什麼來維持生命？這些微生物可能有潛力進行怎樣的活動？在海床下生物圈中的分布為何？微生物是如何演化而來的？
我們所進行的分子生物學分析是我們整個團隊中的一部分，我們的數據可以提供團隊中的其他成員研究的基礎與方向，也可以跟（卉婷）測到的化學組成作結合，來更瞭解這個生物圈，甚至這些生物對於海洋地殼的風化有怎樣的關聯。
Please go to my personal website to learn more about me 想多了解我的研究，請到我的個人網頁
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