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Sifting for microbes

November 14, 2006

WHOI Associate Scientist Rebecca Gast examines a gel used to sort and examine fragments of DNA from microorganisms found in water and sediment samples. The fragments help biologists determine the types and abundances of microbes present. Gast and colleagues from the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health have been analyzing samples from Lake Pontchartrain and other areas around New Orleans that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The team will discuss its research this week in a public forum. (Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)