Student spotlight:
Biology student John Donaho helps make discovery about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, publishes in Nature Microbiology

Undergraduate student John Donaho is co-author of a new study published in Nature Microbiology that describes how scientists have cataloged the genes of several bacteria from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to figure out how bacteria “eat” oil. The discovery, which came last summer while Donaho worked with microbiologists at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, helps scientists pinpoint the pathways that native Gulf of Mexico bacteria use to break up the oil and could lead to human emergency responses that are more “bacteria-friendly.”