Dr. Patricia Sobecky

Patricia Sobecky received a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Georgia. She was a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Donald Helinski in the Center for Molecular Genetics at UCSD. Her research interests focus on investigating marine and subsurface microorganisms and microbial communities responses to anthropogenic stresses including heavy metals, radionuclides, and hydrocarbons. Her work also focuses on the role and contributions of horizontal gene transfer and biomineralization to microbial survival and adaptation to anthropogenic stresses. Since 2009 she is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama (UA). She is on the editorial board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology and serves as an editor for FEMS Microbiology Ecology. In May 2010, she and a colleague (Dr. Behzad Mortazavi, UA) were awarded an NSF RAPID grant to characterize the coastal Alabama marine microbial community responses to the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

GoMRI-funded projects:

• Analysis of the Biodegradative Microbial Population and their Genes in Deepwater Horizon Oil Contaminated Water and Sediments of Coastal Alabama (Year One Block Grant - The Alabama Marine Environmental Science Consortium, Role: Co-Principal Investigator)
• Microbial Responses to Hydrocarbon and Dispersant-Lab and Field-based Studies (Year One Block Grant - The Alabama Marine Environmental Science Consortium, Role: Principal Investigator, Project Data Point of Contact)