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Parsing Microbial Proteins

WHOI biogeochemist Mak Saito inspects a new mass spectrometer in his lab. He’ll use the instrument for his research in proteomics, a branch of biochemistry involving the large-scale study of all the proteins produced by an organism. The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation recently selected Saito as one of eight recipients of a 2016 Postdoctoral Program in Environmental Chemistry grant. The two-year award of $120,000 will allow Saito to fund a postdoctoral Dreyfus Fellow to work with him to study the nutritional requirements of ocean microbes; in particular, how microbes use metals as catalysts within proteins. (Photo by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)