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Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California,
Berkeley, 2002
Professor Blank's research involves using geochemical and molecular biological approaches to study microbial populations in the boiling springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park. Little is known about the microbial populations in these ecosystems, or how the chemistry of the environment influences population structure, however all of these organisms branch very deep in the tree of life. Therefore, study of these organisms, their gene content and their metabolic capabilities, has the potential to help us better understand the early evolution of life. Dr. Blank studies population structure in these ecosystems by isolating the DNA from hot spring sediments and sinters, followed by the cloning and sequencing of the small subunit and large subunit ribosomal RNA genes, as well as the internal transcribed spacer region. Evolutionary relationships between organisms are calculated using molecular phylogenetic techniques, and the influence of geochemistry and geography on population structure is determined using phylogeographic techniques. She also uses in situ methods to study the morphology and metabolic capabilities of microbes in boiling silica-depositing springs.
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| Octopus Spring, Yellowstone National Park | Queen's Laundry Spring |
Dr. Blank also studies the evolutionary history of microbes as a means of understanding the early evolution of life and the geochemical conditions under which early life evolved. Currently, little is known about the early evolution of life; what types of metabolisms were present, what the chemistry of the environment was like, and how microbes have influenced the changing chemistry of the earth through time. Dr. Blank uses molecular phylogenetic techniques to determine what types of ancient microbial metabolisms might have been present, and integrates this information with the geochemical record of the early earth. She also uses theoretical geochemical modeling techniques to constrain what types of early metabolisms could have been present.
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| Source pool of Octopus Spring, 89-92°C | Phylogenetic tree based on the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. Thermophilic lineages are red, photosynthetic lineages are orange.Click on image for enlargement. |
Dr. Blank is also interested in developing new techniques for the detection of life on other planets, given that life elsewhere might have arisen independently of earth life. Other research interests include lateral gene transfer (the "swapping" of genes from one microorganism to another), environmental genomics, and microbe-mineral interactions, particularly with respect to silica precipitation and hyperthermophilic microbial communities (this is in collaboration with Dr. Sherry Cady at Portland State University).
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| Microbial mat in an outflow channel, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone.. |
C. E. Blank. 2002. Evolutionary timing of mesophilic sulfate reduction and "The Great Oxidation Event": A phylogenomic approach, submitted.
C. E. Blank and B. D. Mishler. 2002. Phylogeny of the Domain Bacteria: Using compartmentalization to better resolve ancient divergences in the tree of life, submitted to Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
C. E. Blank, S. L. Cady, and N. R. Pace. 2002. Microbial composition of silica-depositing thermal springs throughout Yellowstone National Park. Appl. Enivron. Microbiol. 68(10):pp.
J. A. Leigh, P. S. Kessler, and C. E. Blank. 1998. Regulation of nif gene expression in Methanococcus maripaludis, in Biological Nitrogen Fixation for the 21st Century, C. Elmerich, A. Kondorosi, and W. E. Newton, eds.
P. S. Kessler, C. E. Blank, and J. A. Leigh. 1998. The nif gene operon of the methanogenic archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis. J. Bacteriology 180(6):1504-1511.
R. Cohen-Kupiec, C. E. Blank, and J. A. Leigh. 1997. Transcriptional regulation in Archaea: In vivo demonstration of a repressor binding site in a methanogen. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:1316-1320.
R. A. Cattolico, T. Hariharan, P. Johnson, C. Blank, and H. Kurtz. 1996. Evolutionary variations in phosphoribulokinase among autotrophic organisms. J. Phycology 32(3):SUPPL. 10.
C. E. Blank, P. S. Kessler, and J. A. Leigh. 1995. Genetics in methanogens: transposon insertion mutagenesis of a Methanococcus maripaludis nifH gene. J. Bacteriology 177:5773-7.
 314-935-4456 |
 blank@levee.wustl.edu
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 314-935-7361 |
| Last revised: 19-Feb-2003 |
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