More About Megan Our Microbiologist
You've already met team member Megan Krusor in the journal titled "Meeting a Microbiologist", but here she is in her own words!
I don’t remember not being interested in science and nature. I was scolded by my fourth-grade teacher for disbelieving him when he said that cells were the smallest things that exist. When I was in middle school, I wrote a 20 page science fiction story about a researcher being shrunk to search a cell for a secret message. By the time I took biology and honors chemistry in ninth grade, I knew that I wanted to be a biologist. I absolutely fell in love with glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and the electron transport chain.
I attended Portland State University where I earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Microbiology and Molecular Biology. Afterwards, I decided to attend the University of California, Davis to complete my Ph.D., where I met Dr. Dawn Sumner. I joined Dr. Sumner’s group in the spring of 2012.
Megan Krusor arriving at McMurdo Station.
I now study the microbial communities that live on the bottoms of lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, in Antarctica. My experience handling microbiological samples, examining them under the microscope, and preparing them for further analysis once they get home, is my contribution to our field season at Lake Joyce this year. I’m excited to find out which microorganisms live in the various parts of the lake.
I really enjoy my job, but I’ve learned that to do it well, I need to schedule in some fun. In my spare time, I work in my garden. There are lots of fruits and vegetables growing in my yard. Exercise really helps me to clear my head when I’m thinking about my projects, so I run and practice yoga. I also love reading, especially classic literature. In all of my recreational activities, I am joined by my husband and my dog, both of whom I love very much!