Postdoctoral Associate

phone (617) 230 2860
email momper@mit.edu

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E25-653, 45 Carleton Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA

LilyRunning

 

Bio

2016-present –W.O. Crosby Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT.
2016 – Ph.D. Biology, University of Southern California.
2008 – B.A. Biology, Washington University in St. Louis.

Research

One of the major obstacles to a clearer understanding of the earliest history of life on Earth is uncertainty in the timing of major biological events. Identifying the births and deaths of major gene pathways will help place those events in context of relevant geochemical events in Earth history, and conversely help to constrain the timing of those events. I use a combination of culturing, bioinformatics and lipidomics to understand the role of anoxygenic phototrophs in Earth’s history and to constrain better the timing of the advent of oxygenic photosynthesis in ancient bacterial lineages. 

Select Publications

Momper, L., Jungbluth, S. P., Lee, M. D., & Amend, J. P. (2017). Energy and carbon metabolisms in a deep terrestrial subsurface fluid microbial community. The ISME Journal, 11(10), 2319-2333.

Momper, LM, BK Reese, G Ramirez, P Lee and EA Webb (2014). “Characterization of a novel cohabitation between two marine diazotrophic cyanobacteria.” The ISME Journal, 9(4), pp.882-893.

Jangir, Y, French, S, Momper, LM, Moser,  DP, Amend, JP, El-Naggar, MY (2016) Isolation and characterization of electrochemically active subsurface Delftia and Azonexus. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Sylvan, JB, CL Hoffman, LM Momper, BM Toner, JP Amend and KJ Edwards. (2015)  “Bacillus rigiliprofundis  sp. nov., a spore forming, Mn-oxidizing halotolerant bacterium isolated from deep subsurface ocean crust.” IJSEM.

Osburn, MR, DE LaRowe, LM Momper and JP Amend. (2014) “Chemolithotrophy in the continental deep subsurface: Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), USA.” Frontiers in Extreme Microbiology.

Van Mooy, BAS, LR Hmelo, LE Sofen, SR Campagna, A May, ST Dyhrman, A Heithoff, EA Webb, LM Momper and TJ Mincer. (2012) “Quorum sensing control of phosphorus acquisition in  Trichodesmium consortia.” ISME J.