Prof. Jerry Brand gave a presentation during his visit at IHB.

 

During Sep 19 and 22, 2013, Prof. Jerry Brand from University of Texas, USA, was invited to the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB), and gave a presentation entitled " Intertidal Microbial Mats: Composition, Succession and Dinitrogen Fixation ".  

In his presentation, Prof. Jerry Brand firstly introduced that, cyanobacteria serve as the basis for complex and compact microbial communities that thrive in harsh environments, and cyanobacteria-based microbial mats and biofilms are among the most widely dispersed type of small-scale ecosystem on Earth. He introduced the importance, composition and succession of intertidal microbial mats on the coast of Texas, elaborated the dependence relationship between Hydrocoleum and Microcoleus, and demonstrated that Hydrocoleum is responsible for most nitrogen fixation in mature mats, probably providing available nitrogen for the entire ecosystem. He also introduced the history and development ＆ maintenance and service of the UTEX-Collection. After the presentation, Prof. Jerry Brand had a lively discussion and exchange with the teachers and students. He also visited the FACHB-Collection (Freshwater Algae Culture Collection at the Institute of Hydrobiology) and CZRC (China Zebrafish Resource Center) during his visit. 

Prof. Jerry Brand is currently a professor in the section of Molecular Cell and Developmental (MCD) Biology in the School of Biological Sciences, and is the Director of the Culture Collection of Algae (UTEX), an Organized Research Unit of the College of Natural Sciences. His early research mainly focused on examining effects of environmental stress on photosynthesis and related plant processes as modeled in algae. More recently his research has been centered on development of methods that improve the quality of the living cultures in the Culture Collection of Algae and that address environmental and energy problems of national concern. 

Prof. Jerry Brand interacted with members of the Research Group of Algal Resources and Toxicology at IHB.