Alexander Tøsdal Tveit
Job description
I am a microbiologist with a PhD in microbial ecology from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. I study how changes in microbial physiology can influence carbon cycling. Currently I am leading the projects Cells in the Cold (CECO) and Living on Air, as well as the research lab "Cells in the Cold laboratory" with financial support from Tromsø research foundation and the Research Council of Norway. See "Attachments" tab for CV.
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Research interests
Research interests
I am a microbiologist with a PhD in microbial ecology from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. I work with microorganisms that are involved in the production and consumption of methane and carbon dioxide, and how they interact in soils and sediments. In particular i want to understand how climate change influences microbial physiology and the effects on carbon cycling.
Currently I am leading the research lab and team Cells in the Cold (CECO) laboratory with financial support from Tromsø research foundation and the research council of Norway. In our lab we perform studies in three major directions where the aim of each part is to contribute knowledge about microorganisms with an important role in global carbon cycling.
I) Physiology and ecology of atmospheric methane oxidizing bacteria and other methanotrophs.
We have isolated the first pure culture of an atmospheric methane oxidizing bacterium and characterized it phylogenetically, genomically and functionally. These initial findings were published in PNAS in 2019 and the study was awarded the prestigous Cozzarelli Prize by the National academy of sciences, USA (See CV in attachments). Now we are working to identify the phylogenetic distribution of atmospheric methane oxidation and to understand how they are able to live on trace-gases in air. Ongoing experiments will also uncover how these microorganisms react to the atmospheric composition predicted for the future and how they survived under the lower greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere prior to the industrial revolution. From recent findings we also see a large untapped biotechnological potential in these organisms and are preparing for moving in an applied direction in the coming years.
II) Long-term soil warming effects on microbial metabolisms
Using geothermally warmed grassland soils in Iceland as a model system we study how the metabolic activities of specific microbial populations are modulated in soils affected by long term warming. Our recent study, published in Science in April 2022 (See CV in attachments), demonstrate that adjustments of the protein biosynthesis machinery is central to how soil microorganisms respond to global warming. This study has attracted alot of attention from our colleagues and may represent critical knowledge for understanding global warming effects on soil ecosystems.
III) Carbon cycling in Arctic peatlands.
We are studying how organic matter in Arctic peatlands is degraded, which organisms are involved and how they interact. This includes general physiological responses to temperature, organisms involved in syntrophy and methanogenesis, and also microbial food web interactions. Our work on this springs from three studies published in PNAS and ISME in 2013 and 2015 (See CV in attachments).
Currently, three topics within this direction are of primary interest to us:
1) Microbial physiological responses to temperature change, focusing on protein biosynthesis adjustments.
2) Effects of above-ground herbivory and plant community changes on the microbial foodweb dynamics and methanotrophic community below-ground
3) Anaerobic carbon dioxide fixation, which may be an important but overlooked process in Arctic peat.
Teaching
I am involved in two courses. In both of these our aim is to provide the students with tasks that demand they learn and use the entire skillset needed to work scientifically within our discipline (adapted to the level of the students - bachelor, master or PhD). Theory is a small but crucial part of the teaching. The other parts are
- Experiment planning and ability to follow protocol
- Fieldwork, chemical and process measurements
- Laboratory technique and use of calculations in daily work
- Molecular work (PCR, cloning, qPCR, preparation for sequencing)
- Bioinformatics (phylogeny, blast and data handling)
- Data analysis, statistics
- Scientific writing
Bio 2018 - Were we teach theory and techniques in genetics.
Bio 3018 - Here we teach molecular methods and theory for research at the interface of molecular biology, physiology and ecology research.
Member of research group
Attachments:
- ATT_CV_2022 (pdf)