WHAT DO WE STUDY?
Using protein chemistry to solve biochemical mysteries in the environment

Proteins are the biochemical machines of the cell and can provide a seasoned chemist with a wide range of information on the status or plans of a cell.  We use state-of-the-art tandem mass spectrometry technology and bioinformatic tools in order to analyze and decipher protein expression from a variety of samples from the environment.  Our specialty is in the marine world.  Be it particles floating in the ocean, sediments on the ocean floor, phytoplankton adapting to climate change, or bacteria surviving on hydrothermal vent plumes or in Arctic ice channels, we are interested and excited to tackle the project.  

WE ARE CURRENTLY SEEKING NEW COLLABORATIONS
ALL DATA IS PUBLICLY AVAILABLE on PRIDE for DOWNLOAD

ABOUT THE LAB

Brook Nunn joined Michael MacCoss' lab in the Department of Genome Sciences to run the environmental division in 2015 as a Research Assistant Professor. Historically, the Nunn lab has focused our efforts on proteomic profiling.  Proteomic profiling allows the investigator to catalog all the proteins expressed at the time of harvest in an unbiased manner and is a very thorough hypothesis-generating method.  This method allows us to figure out how the organism is adapting to a unique environment by globally assaying the organism's response or to find out which protein functional groups are common in preserved organic matter.

​Since joining the MacCoss lab group, the focus of the lab has shifted.  We now include more targeted and quantitative methods.  It is an exciting time to be in the proteomics field!

OUR LATEST WORK

Subzero, saline incubations of Colwellia psychrerythraea reveal strategies and biomarkers for sustained life in extreme icy environments
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​Led by Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate student Miranda Mudge
​Physiological and molecular responses of lobe coral indicate nearshore adaptations to anthropogenic stressors

A collaboration with University of Hawaii Bob Richmand's lab and led by recent graduate student Kaho Tishammer
Metaproteomics reveal that rapid perturbations in organic matter prioritize functional restructuring over taxonomy in western Arctic Ocean microbiomes
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A collaboration with Old Dominion University and Rodger Harvey's lab  and led by recent graduate student Molly Mikan
MetaGOmics is ready to use!

​"Fear the awesome power of metaproteo-oceanographiomics (TM pending)" -Michael Riffle
An alignment-free ‘metapeptide’ strategy for metaproteomic characterization of microbiome samples using shotgun metagenomic sequencing
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In Collaboration with the Whalen Lab at Haverford Bacterial quorum sensing signal arrests phytoplankton cell division and impacts virus-induced mortality was published in mSphere
Scott Pollara, Jamie Becker, Brook Nunn, Rene Boiteau, Daniel Repeta, Miranda Mudge, Grayton Downing, Davis Chase, Elizabeth Harvey, and Kristen Whalen

​STEM OUTREACH

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Jenna Everard, a high school student in Seattle, worked with the Nunn lab in 2019 and won the Research Division of the Regional Student BioExpo Sciene Fair of 2019. 
Christina Le and Hana Abay (2 high school students) did a fabulous job at the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair in Bremerton WA in March of 2018.  They won several awards (see below).
  • WSSEF finalists (top 15 out of over 300 projects!)
  • 1st in senior division & 1st in category
  • Best in category
  • Wolfram Alpha Mathematical Software Special Award
  • Ohio University Scholarship Special Award
Teaching environmental proteomics to local area high school students.
This lab is a division of the MacCoss lab of Biological Mass Spectrometry at the University of Washington Department of Genome Sciences.  It is currently funded independently by Dr. Brook Nunn through the generous grants provided by the National Science Foundation.
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University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA