Unboxing the Black Box: The Evolution of Microbial Ecology
An exhibit by Chansotheary Dang, 2022 WVU Art in the Libraries’ Graduate Student Exhibit Awardee
WVU Downtown Library Graduate Commons, Ground Level
Feb-Aug, 2023
Exhibit reception: Monday, April 3, 4-6pm, 2023
Although microorganisms govern ecosystem function, microbes themselves have been hidden away in a 'black box'. This is largely due to innumerable diversity of microorganisms. One grain of soil contains tens of thousands of microbes that spans across different species. Recent advancement in technology and methods have allow us to crack up this black box and see what’s going on inside. This exhibit will emphasize the evolution of the field of microbial ecology from culturing to DNA sequencing to what we are currently know doing with quantitative stable isotope probing. Not only are we able to know ‘who’s there’ and ‘what’s going on’, but linking these two processes together!