In the Pink

Alyson Santoro, a WHOI postdoctoral investigator in the department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, checks on cultures of marine ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. The bacteria are used by Santoro and Joint Program student Carly Buchwald in experiments to study their isotope effects (differences in mass), important values for interpreting nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope measurements in the ocean. Santoro is on a research cruise in the southern Pacific Ocean from mid-March through April, during which she will be investigating a missing part of the global nitrogen cycle.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)