McMahon, Katherine (Trina)

Microbial ecology -- environmental biotechnology -- biochemical engineering -- environmental engineering -- water quality -- metabolic engineering -- freshwater microbiology

Selected Awards, Honors and Societies

Benjamin Smith Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2009
University Housing Honored Instructors Award, 2009
UW-Madison Campus Class of 1955 Distinguished Teaching Award, 2008
NSF CAREER Award, 2007
EPA-STAR Graduate Fellowship, 2000
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 1996

Recent Publications

A. Shade, J. S. Read, D. Welkie, C. H. Wu, K. D. McMahon. "Resistance, resilience, and recovery: aquatic bacterial dynamics after disturbance". In review.
A. Shade, C.-Y. Chiu, K. D. McMahon. "Differential bacterial dynamics promote emergent community robustness to lake mixing: an epilimnion to hypolimnion transplant experiment". Environmental Microbiology. In press.
R. J. Newton and K. D. McMahon. "Seasonal differences in bacterial community composition following nutrient additions in a eutrophic lake". In review.
S. He, V. Kunin, M. Haynes, H. Garcia Martin, N. Ivanova, F. Rohwer, P. Hugenholtz, K. D. McMahon. "Metatranscriptomic array analysis of 'Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis'-enriched enhanced biological phosphorus removal sludge." In review.
A. Shade, C.-Y. Chiu, K. D. McMahon. "Seasonal and episodic lake mixing stimulate differential response among planktonic bacterial dynamics". Microbial Ecology. In press.
J. J. Flowers, S. He, N. Ivanova, S. Yilmaz, D. R. Noguera, K. D. McMahon. "Denitrification capabilities of two enhanced biological phosphorus removal sludges dominated by different 'Candidatus Accumulibacter' clades" Environmental Microbiology Reports. In press.
E. E. Seyfried, R. J. Newton, K. F. Rubert IV, J. A. Pedersen, K. D. McMahon. (200_) "Diversity of tetracycline resistance genes in aquaculture facilities with varying use of oxytetracycline" In revision.
S. E. Jones, R. J. Newton, K. D. McMahon. (2009) "Evidence for structuring of bacterial community composition by organic carbon source in temperate lakes". Environmental Microbiology. 11(9):2463-2472.
A. Shade, C. C. Carey, E. Kara, S. Bertilsson, K. D. McMahon, M. C. Smith. (2009) "Can the black box be cracked? The augmentation of microbial ecology by high-resolution automated sensing technologies". The ISME Journal. 3:881-888.
S. E. Jones, K. D. McMahon. (2009) "Species sorting may explain an apparent minimal effect of immigration on freshwater bacterial community dynamics" Environmental Microbiology, 11:905-913.
S. E. Jones, T. K. Kratz, C.-Y. Chiu, K. D. McMahon. (2009) "The influence of typhoons on annual CO2 flux from a sub-tropical, humic lake." Global Change Biology. 15:243-254.
G. T. Hinckley, C. J. Johnson, K. H. Jacobson, C. Bartholomay, K. D. McMahon, D. McKenzie, J. M. Aiken, J. A. Pedersen. (2008) "Persistence of pathogenic prion protein during simulated wastewater treatment processes." Environmental Science and Technology,42(14):5254-5259.
S. B. Peterson, F. Warnecke, J. Madejska, K. D. McMahon, P. Hugenholtz. (2008) "Environmental distribution and population biology of Candidatus Accumulibacter, a primary agent of biological phosphorus removal." Environmental Microbiology. 10(10):2692-2703.
I. S. Gil, W. Sheldon, T. Schmidt, M. Servilla, R. Aguilar, C. Gries, T. Gray, D. Field, J. Cole, J. Y. Pan, G. Palanisamy, D. Henshaw, M. O'Brien, L. Kinkel, K. McMahon, R. Kottman, J. Brunt, W. Michener. (2008) "Defining linkages between the GSC and NSF's LTER program: how does the ecological metadata language relate to GCDML and other outcomes" OMICS: A journal of Integrative Biology, 12(2):151-156.
S. E. Jones, R. J. Newton, K. D. McMahon. (2008) "Potential for atmospheric deposition of bacteria to influence bacterioplankton communities." FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 64:388-394.
S. E. Jones, C.-Y. Chiu, T. K. Kratz, J.-T. Wu, A. Shade, K. D. McMahon. (2008) "Typhoons initiate predictable change in aquatic bacterial communities" Limnology and Oceanography, 53:1319-1326.
V. Kunin, H. Garcia Martin, F. Warnecke, S. B. Peterson, N. Ivanova, L. L. Blackall, K. D. McMahon, P. Hugenholtz. (2008) "A bacterial metapopulation adapts locally to phage predation despite global dispersal" Genome Research, 18:293-297.
A. Shade, S. E. Jones, K. D. McMahon. (2008) "The influence of habitat heterogeneity on freshwater bacterial community composition and dynamics" Environmental Microbiology, 10(4):1057-1067.
S. He, A. Gu, K.D. McMahon. (2008) "Progress towards understanding the distribution of Accumulibacter among full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems" Microbial Ecology, 55(2):229-236.
Y. K. Cho, T. J. Donohue, I. Tejedor, M. A. Anderson, K. D. McMahon, D. R. Noguera. (2007) "Development of a solar powered microbial fuel cell" Journal of Applied Microbiology, 104:640-650.
R. J. Newton, S. E. Jones, M. R. Helmus, K. D. McMahon. (2007) "The phylogenetic ecology of the freshwater acI lineage" Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73(22):7169-7176.
S. He, D. L. Gall, K. D. McMahon. (2007) "Accumulibacter population structure in enhanced biological phosphorus removal sludges revealed by polyphosphate kinase genes" Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73(18):5865-5874.
K. D. McMahon, S. Yilmaz, S. He, D. L. Gall, D. Jenkins, J. D. Keasling. (2007) "Polyphosphate kinase genes from full-scale activated sludge plants." Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 77(1):167-173.
K. D. McMahon, H. Garcia Martin, P. Hugenholtz. (2007) "Integrating ecology into environmental biotechnology" Current Opinion in Biotechnology 18(3):287-292.
A. D. Kent, A.C. Yannarell, J. A. Rusak, E. W. Triplett, K. D. McMahon. (2007) "Synchronous dynamics in aquatic microbial communities" The ISME Journal 1:38-47.
S. R. Carpenter, B. J. Benson, R. Biggs, J. W. Chipman, J. A. Foley, S.A. Golding, R. B. Hammer, P. C. Hanson, P.T.J. Johnson, A. M. Kamarainen, T. K. Kratz, R. C. Lathrop, K. D. McMahon, B. Provencher, J. A. Rusak, C. T. Solomon, E. H. Stanley, M. G. Turner, M.J. Vander Zanden, C.-H. Wu and H. Yuan. (2007). "Understanding regional change: Comparison of two lake districts." BioScience 57(4):323-335.
E. A. Auerbach, E. E. Seyfried, and K. D. McMahon. (2007) "Tetracycline resistance genes in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants." Water Research 41:1143-1151.
S. E. Jones, A. Shade, K. D. McMahon, A. D. Kent. (2007) "Comparison of primer sets for use in automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) of aquatic bacterial communities: An ecological perspective" Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73(2):659-662
A. Shade, A.D. Kent, S. E Jones, R. J. Newton, E.W. Triplett, K.D. McMahon, (2007) "Inter-annual dynamics and phenology of bacterial communities in a eutrophic lake" Limnology and Oceanography 52:487-494.
H. Garcia Martin, N. Ivanova, V. Kunin, F. Warnecke, K. Barry, A. C. McHardy, C. Yeates, S. He, A. Salamov, E. Szeto, E. Dalin, N. Putnam, I. Rigoutsos, N. C. Kyrpides, L. L. Blackall, K. D. McMahon , P. Hugenholtz. (2006). "Metagenomic analysis of phosphorus removing sludge communities." Nature Biotechnology 24:1263-1269.
T. C. Balser, K. D. McMahon, D. Bronson, D. R. Coyle, N. Craig, M. L. Flores-Mangual, K. Forshay, S. E. Jones, A. D. Kent, A. Shade. (2006). "Bridging the gap between micro- and macro-scale perspectives on the role of microbial communities in global change ecology" Plant and Soil 289(1-2):59-70.
J. A. Pedersen, K. D. McMahon, C. H. Benson (2006). "Prions: novel pathogens of environmental concern?" Journal of Environmental Engineering 132(9):967-969.
A. D. Kent, S. E. Jones, G. H. Lauster, J. M. Graham, R. J. Newton, and K. D. McMahon (2006). "Experimental manipulations of microbial food web interactions in a humic lake: shifting drivers of bacterial community structure" Environmental Microbiology 8(8):1448-1459.
R. J. Newton, A.D. Kent, E.W. Triplett, and K.D. McMahon (2006) "Microbial community dynamics in a humic lake: bacterial assemblages respond differentially to seasonal biological drivers" Environmental Microbiology 8(6):956-970.
S. He, A. Gu, K. D. McMahon (2006) "Fine-scale differences between Accumulibacter-like bacteria in enhanced biological phosphorus removal activated sludge" Water Science and Technology 54(1):111-117.

Summary

Microbes possess extraordinarily diverse and sophisticated physiologies, communication strategies, and mechanisms of evolution. Scientists and engineers are only beginning to understand and exploit the metabolic potential of these organisms and their communities. The broad objective of my research program is to improve our capacity to predict and model microbial behavior, while searching for novel biologically mediated transformations that can be harnessed for engineering applications.

My students and I study the microbial ecology of natural and engineered systems, with an emphasis on those that use microbes to remove pollutants from water. We use molecular tools to investigate microbial community structure and function in activated sludge, subsurface environments, and freshwater bodies. This information will ultimately lead to the construction of better mechanistic models to describe such processes as wastewater treatment, bioremediation, and nutrient cycling.

We also seek to understand gene mobility in mixed populations of microorganisms in the environment. Horizontal gene transfer and recombination are important mechanisms of microbial evolution. The extent to which genes are horizontally transferred between species of microbes will partially determine how populations respond to the chemicals they are exposed to in the environment. This has important implications for the capacity of microbial communities to remediate many different kinds of pollutants.

Please visit my extended website for more details about current research projects (see also the direct link below).

Files and Links of Interest

Copyright 2009 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
Date last modified: 09-Oct-2009
Content by: tmcmahon_at_engr.wisc.edu
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