Jennifer Biddle

Professor, Marine Science and Policy University of Delaware

  • Lewes DE

Prof. Biddle's research interests include microbial ecology of marine systems, deep biosphere life, benthic archaea and bacteria.

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Biography

Jennifer F. Biddle is an American microbiologist who is a professor of microbial ecology at the University of Delaware. Biddle joined the Department of Geosciences, then moved to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a postdoctoral researcher in 2007, supported by the NASA postdoctoral program. Biddle is interested in the microbial ecology of subsurface environments. Her early research made use of deep sea drilling to identify organisms in the ocean floor. She used genomic analysis to identify microbes in sediment collected 500 feet below the ocean floor during the Ocean Drilling Program in 2002.

Biddle also investigated the organisms in deep lakes in the Canadian Rockies. She studied Pavilion Lake through genomic analysis of a series of samples collected at different depths. Working with ExxonMobil, Biddle demonstrated that microbial communities found in deeper seafloor sediments in and around sites of hydrocarbon seepage had considerable available energy and high population turnover rates.

In 2010, Biddle was appointed an assistant professor at the University of Delaware. She was promoted to associate professor in 2017 and full Professor in 2022.

Industry Expertise

Research
Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Geobiology
Deep Biosphere Life
Microbial Ecology
Marine Systems
Benthic Archaea and Bacteria

Media Appearances

Deep-Sea Microbes: New Research Looks at Life Inside and Outside of Seafloor Hydrocarbon Seeps

SciTechDaily  online

2020-07-12

Using sediment samples collected by ExxonMobil researchers, UD professor Jennifer Biddle and her lab group — including Rui Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher who is the first author on the paper; Kristin Yoshimura, who received her doctorate from UD; and Glenn Christman, a bioinformatician — worked on a study in collaboration with Zara Summers, an ExxonMobil microbiologist.

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Study looks at life inside and outside of seafloor hydrocarbon seeps

Phys.org  online

2020-07-09

Using sediment samples collected by ExxonMobil researchers, UD professor Jennifer Biddle and her lab group—including Rui Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher who is the first author on the paper; Kristin Yoshimura, who received her doctorate from UD; and Glenn Christman, a bioinformatician—worked on a study in collaboration with Zara Summers, an ExxonMobil microbiologist.

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Examining the lifestyles of microbes

EurekAlert!  online

2017-09-27

University of Delaware professor Jennifer Biddle and Rosa Leon-Zayas, who completed post-doctoral work at UD earlier this year, recently described new details about microbes known as Parcubacteria in a paper published in Environmental Microbiology.

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Articles

Occurrence, Diversity, and Genomes of “Candidatus Patescibacteria” along the Early Diagenesis of Marine Sediments

Applied and Environmental Microbiology

2022

The phylum “Candidatus Patescibacteria” (or Candidate Phyla Radiation [CPR]) accounts for roughly one-quarter of microbial diversity on Earth, but the presence and diversity of these bacteria in marine sediments have been rarely charted. Here, we investigate the abundance, diversity, and metabolic capacities of CPR bacteria in three sediment sites (Mohns Ridge, North Pond, and Costa Rica Margin) with samples covering a wide range of redox zones formed during the early diagenesis of organic matter.

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Community Dynamics of Marine Planktic Archaea in an Estuarine River Water Column

AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts 2022

2022

We report the results of a year-long census of the archaeal community at the mouth of the Broadkill River, a tidal estuarine river that empties into the Delaware Bay. Water was filtered monthly at high and low tides through sequential 2.7 µm, 0.7 µm and 0.3 µm filters and 16s rRNA genes from all filters were sequenced. Size fraction was the most important factor determining the structure of the community; also important was the time of year, with a clear difference between the community in the spring and winter compared to summer and fall.

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Introducing Candidatus Bathyanammoxibiaceae, a family of bacteria with the anammox potential present in both marine and terrestrial environments

ISME Communications

2022

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) bacteria are a group of extraordinary bacteria exerting a major impact on the global nitrogen cycle. Their phylogenetic breadth and diversity, however, are not well constrained. Here we describe a new, deep-branching family in the order of Candidatus Brocadiales, Candidatus Bathyanammoxibiaceae, members of which have genes encoding the key enzymes of the anammox metabolism.

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Accomplishments

International Ocean Drilling Program Distinguished Lecturer

2013-2014

Education

The Pennsylvania State University

PhD

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2006

Dissertation: Microbial populations and processes in subseafloor marine environments

Rutgers University

BS

Biotechnology

1999

Affiliations

  • MicroSeminar : creator and organizer
  • International Society of Microbial Ecology (ISME) Journal : Senior Editorial Board