I obtained my degree in biology from the University of Konstanz (Germany) in 2003, and completed my PhD in the School of Biotechnology and
Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales (Australia) in 2007. In my PhD thesis i investigated Antarctic cyanobacterial diversity
in cyanobacterial mat communities of meltwater ponds near Bratina Island, McMurdo Ice Shelf. I characterised their diversity using a polyphasic approach
by utilising 16S rRNA clone-libraries, culturing and TRFLP as well as using morphological and lipid marker analysis. My particular
interest was in the impact of variable salinity on the present cyanobacterial diversity. I also investigated secondary metabolite production
such as cyanobacterial toxins, as well as cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation and its role in the global nitrogen cycle of the meltwater
ponds of Bratina Island by combining physiological and molecular techniques.
In my postdoctoral research at Université Laval, within Dr. Warwick Vincent’s group and the International Polar Year
program MERGE, I would like to investigate cyanobacterial diversity of the High Arctic in context of biogeography
distribution and adaptation using an array of molecular and physiological tools.
Publications: Jungblut, A-D. and Neilan, A.B. (2006) Molecular identification and evolution of the cyclic peptide hepatotoxins, microcystin and nodularin, synthetase genes in three orders of cyanobacteria. Archives for Microbiology: 185 (2): 107-114.
Jungblut, A-D., Hoeger, S.P., Hitzfeld, B., Mountfort, D., Dietrich, D., Neilan, A.B. (2006) Characterization of microcystin production by Antarctic cyanobacteria. Toxicon: 47 (3): 271-8.
Jungblut, A-D., Hawes, I., Hitzfeld, B., Mountfort, D., Dietrich, D., Burns, B.P., Neilan, A.B (2005) Diversity within mat communities in variable salinity meltwater ponds of McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Environmental Microbiology 7 (4): 519-29.
Gaylarde P.M., Jungblut A.-D., Gaylarde C.C. & Neilan B.A. (2006) Endolithic phototrophs in an active geothermal region in New Zealand, Geomicrobiology Microbiology, 23 (7): 579-587.
Izaguirre, G., Jungblut, A.-D., Neilan, B.A.: Benthic Oscillatoriales species that produces microcystin-LR, isolated from four reservoirs in Southern California (accepted, Water Research).
Saker, M. L, Jungblut, A.-D., Neilan, B.A., Niedzwiadek, B., Vasconcelos, V.M. (2005) Detection of peptide synthetase genes in health food supplements containing the freshwater cyanobacterium Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Toxicon 46 (5): 555-62.
Burns, B.P., Seifert, A., Goh, F, Pomati, F., Jungblut, A.-D., Serhat, A., Neilan, B.A. (2004) Genetic potential for secondary metabolites production in stromatolite communities, FEMS Microbiological Ecological Letters 243:293-301.
Baumgaertner, D.; Jungblut, A-D.; Koch, U.; Elert von E. (2002) Effects of infochemicals on microhabitat choice by the freshwater amphipod Gammarus roeseli, Archive für Hydrobiology 155 (3): 353-367.
