Plant-microbe interactions, root exud., molec. char. rhizosphere

Dr. Jayde Aufrecht is a Pauling Fellow working with the Ecosystem Interfaces team in PNNL’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Division and the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) user program. Aufrecht joined PNNL in 2019 as a Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow. She has interdisciplinary research interests that bridge the fields of nanotechnology and ecology.  At PNNL and EMSL, Aufrecht creates synthetic ecological habitats, using a combination of microfabrication and 3D-printing, that allow her to image and probe the dynamics between hosts and their associated microbiomes. She is interested in discovering how environmental perturbations can influence the functional phenotype and spatial organization of microbial communities. Aufrecht holds a PhD in Energy Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee. She conducted her graduate research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where her doctoral thesis helped advance microfluidics technology for studying underground ecological processes.