JUSTL participant: Dr Hongmei Jing
Dr Hongmei Jing is a Principal Investigator in the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE), Chinese Academy of Sciences in Sanya, China. She got her PhD degree from the University of Hong Kong in 2006 under the supervision of Professor Steven B. Pointing in the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity. She worked on a project to identify the phylogenetic diversity and cultivation of the thermophilic cyanobacteria Synechococcus spp., from geothermal springs in Asia. After completing her PhD, Dr Jing had post-doctoral training at the University of Quebec (Montreal, Canada) from 2006 to 2008, before returning to Hong Kong to work as a Research Associate in the laboratory of Professor Hongbin Liu at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Division of Life Science.
Current Work
Dr Jing has worked at the IDSSE since 2013, and her research mainly focuses on the molecular ecology of deep-sea microbes, especially their composition and their potential ecological functions in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen.
JUSTL Programme
Dr Jing attended the 2010 JUSTL programme, and she worked on a project with Dr Daniel Ward in Dr Scott Lindell’s laboratory in the Marine Resource Center at the MBL to visualise lipid droplets in the green alga, Chlorella sp. and the diatom, Phaeodactylum after labelling them with lipid-specific fluorescent dyes.
In addition to this research project, Dr Jing attended the summer course lectures on Microbial Diversity, and she was excited to meet so many people who had similar interests to her. She said, “I still clearly remember Dr Julie Huber’s seminar about her exploration of the sub-seafloor microbes, and the video she took during her cruise, which showed her collecting samples from the hydrothermal environment, and I was very impressed by the prosperous ecosystems around the hydrothermal vent. At the time, Dr Huber’s talk inspired me to do my own research to explore the beauty and mystery of deep-sea ecosystems. Almost ten years later (late 2018/early 2019), I joined a three-month cruise and used China’s deep-sea manned submersible, Shen Hai Yong Shi, [delivered to the IDSSE in late 2017] to collect my own samples from three hydrothermal fields in the South-western region of the Indian Ocean. Since this first trip, I have now taken the deep-sea manned submersible six times and collected samples from various different deep-sea cold seeps, hydrothermal vents and deep basins. My interest in this field was really initiated in the MBL during the JUSTL programme.”
I am very grateful for my research experience in the MBL, which is one of the top research units in the field of marine science.
Dr Jing summed up her time in Woods Hole, “I am very grateful for my research experience in the MBL, which is one of the top research units in the field of marine science. What impressed me most was to see so many senior scientists attending the Friday night seminar and exchanging their opinions with junior investigators. This reminds me that life-long learning is the key to success, and I should invest time to continuously upgrade my skills and capabilities. I had always longed to study marine microbiology at the MBL ..[..] and thanks to the JUSTL programme, my dream came true. I really hope that I can go back to Woods Hole again someday to work with those outstanding scientists.”