Professor Nealson is one of the pioneers of the field of modern geobiology – an area of science that tackles the still largely unexplored domain where the processes and chemistry of life intersect with the planet's mineral and metal chemistry. In his early work as a marine microbiologist, Nealson discovered quorum sensing, the phenomenon in which microbial communities create light. As one of the first to recognize the importance of microorganisms in catalyzing redox reactions in the environment, he has led the development of tools to study these organisms. Nealson's techniques, used to study microbial populations through genetic identification, are now considered standard in analyzing microbes found in biofilms. On a much larger scale, Nealson has studied the cycling of such minerals as iron and manganese, revealing the key role of microorganisms in these biogeochemical processes. More recently, he has turned to the understanding of how life can function in extreme environments, and he is directing efforts at NASA to search for life and evidence of ancient life in the solar system. Recent work has involved the systems biology and comparative genomics of a group of organisms in the genus Shewanella, as well as adapting his laboratory work to the application of using microbes to produce energy from waste materials in microbial fuel cells.

Microbial physiology and genomics; Environmental microbiology; Metagenomics of natural populations; Microbial Fuel Cells

Professor Nealson’s current work focuses on many aspects of bacteria in the group Shewanella. This ranges from comparative genomics of this group (with a goal of using a systems biology approach to understand the microbes), to identifying the genes and proteins involved in metal reduction and electricity production by these bacteria. In addition, the work includes development of methods for identifying early stress in metallic materials, utilizing bacteria to sense and respond to the stress. This approach is broadened by efforts to use shotgun sequencing approaches to identify the genetic components of marine populations, and understand the microbiology of the ocean using these metagenomic approaches.