Jody Deming

About

Jody W. Deming earned her Ph.D. in marine Microbiology from the University of Maryland in 1981, following a B.A. in Biological Sciences cum laude from Smith College in 1974. She developed microbial life detection assays for NASA between 1974 and 1977 and received NSF and NOAA postdoctoral fellowships for deep-sea research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Johns Hopkins University from 1981 to 1983. Her research included Alvin dives at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and she continued her work at Johns Hopkins before moving to the University of Washington in 1988, where she is a Professor in the School of Oceanography. Her research focuses on microbial life in extreme environments, including the Arctic Ocean and sea-ice cover, and she has directed various programs such as the Marine Bioremediation Program and the Center for Environmental Genomics. She helped establish the nation’s first graduate training program in Astrobiology and has directed the Future of Ice Initiative. Deming has led over 50 seagoing or ice-related expeditions, served as chair of the International Arctic Polynya Program, and participated in the US Polar Research Board during the International Polar Year. She has received numerous awards, including the US Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal, an Honorary Doctorate from Université Laval, and the Karl M. Banse Endowed Professorship. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Ocean Science domain of Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, a member of the American…

Research topics

• Genetics
• Oceanography
• Geology
• Biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Ecology
• Chemistry
• Computational biology
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Expansion of the global RNA virome reveals diverse clades of bacteriophages

  Cell · 2022 · 294 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Viral Ecogenomics of Arctic Cryopeg Brine and Sea Ice

  mSystems · 2020 · 48 citations

  This study explores viral community structure and function in remote and extreme Arctic environments, including subzero brines within marine layers of permafrost and sea ice, using a modern viral ecogenomics toolkit for the first time. In addition to providing foundational data sets for these climate-threatened habitats, we found evidence that the viruses had habitat specificity, infected dominant microbial hosts, encoded host-derived metabolic genes, and mediated horizontal gene transfer among…

  DOI

• Microbial metabolomic responses to changes in temperature and salinity along the western Antarctic Peninsula

  The ISME Journal · 2023-09-15 · 24 citations

  articleOpen access

  Seasonal cycles within the marginal ice zones in polar regions include large shifts in temperature and salinity that strongly influence microbial abundance and physiology. However, the combined effects of concurrent temperature and salinity change on microbial community structure and biochemical composition during transitions between seawater and sea ice are not well understood. Coastal marine communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula were sampled and surface seawater was incubated at co…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Divergent Genomic Adaptations in the Microbiomes of Arctic Subzero Sea-Ice and Cryopeg Brines

  Frontiers in Microbiology · 2021 · 22 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  . Functionally, however, sea ice encoded fewer accessory traits and lower average genomic copy numbers for shared traits, though DNA replication and repair were elevated; in contrast, microbes in cryopeg brines had greater genetic versatility with elevated abundances of accessory traits involved in sensing, responding to environmental cues, transport, mobile elements (transposases and plasmids), toxin-antitoxin systems, and type VI secretion systems. Together these genomic features suggest adapt…

  PublisherDOI

• Lower viral evolutionary pressure under stable versus fluctuating conditions in subzero Arctic brines

  Microbiome · 2023-08-07 · 21 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: Climate change threatens Earth's ice-based ecosystems which currently offer archives and eco-evolutionary experiments in the extreme. Arctic cryopeg brine (marine-derived, within permafrost) and sea ice brine, similar in subzero temperature and high salinity but different in temporal stability, are inhabited by microbes adapted to these extreme conditions. However, little is known about their viruses (community composition, diversity, interaction with hosts, or evolution) or how they…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research on Carbon cycling in the circum-Arctic flaw lead-polynya system: A radionuclide and molecular ecological approach

  NSF · $476k · 2005–2010

• Frost flowers in Arctic winter: Sea-to-air transport of microbes and viruses

  NSF · $356k · 2009–2013

• Rapid Response Research: Accessing New Sea Ice in an Arctic Winter Polynya

  NSF · $36k · 2012–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Shelly D. Carpenter

  University of Washington

  28 shared

• William Nelson

  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  24 shared

• Robert M. Kelly

  North Carolina State University

  20 shared

• John A. Baross

  University of Washington

  17 shared

• Jeff S. Bowman

  University of California, San Diego

  16 shared

• Hajo Eicken

  University of Alaska Fairbanks

  15 shared

• Catherine Larose

  Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement

  14 shared

• Josephine Z. Rapp

  Université Laval

  14 shared

Labs

• Jody Deming LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Astrophysics

  University of Washington

  1995

• M.S., Astronomy

  University of Washington

  1991

• B.S., Physics

  University of California, San Diego

  1987

Awards & honors

• US Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal (1993)
• Honorary Doctorate in Science and Engineering, Université La…
• Walters Endowed Professorship (2009–2016)
• Hasselblad Guest Professor, University of Göteburg, Sweden (…
• Karl M. Banse Endowed Professorship (2016– present)

Similar researchers at University of Washington

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