JEN PECHAL, PHD
Other Projects & Collaborations
Due to a fantastic network of colleagues and collaborators, I have the opportunity to work on projects outside of decomposition, but using methodological (e.g., NGS) and analytical approaches I routinely use in my main research lines.
Insect Microbiome Surveys
Many insects have close associations with the prokaryotes that reside in or are associated with their environment. Better understanding of how these microbial communities interact with insects throughout their life cycle could be of great ecological importance. We conduct surveys of the microbial communities associated with a variety of insects (e.g., mosquitoes, house flies, mayflies, mealworms) using NGS. Data from microbial surveys, such as 16S, can be invaluable for discovery and lay the foundation for future work.
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Collaborators: Dr. M. Eric Benbow (Michigan State University); Dr. John Wallace (Millersville University); Dr. Jeffery K. Tomberlin (Texas A&M University); Dr. Tawni Crippen (USDA); Dr. Wei-Min Wu (Stanford)
Insect Hydrocarbons
In forensic entomology, one of the key questions during an investigation is: How old is that insect? One proposed method to narrow the estimated age of an insect is by using cuticular hydrocarbons. These compounds are identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the resulting chemical profiles can be analyzed using statistical methods. Insects of forensic importance have species-specific and age-specific "fingerprints", which can be used in postmortem interval estimates.
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Collaborators: Dr. Hannah Moore (Cranfield University); Dr. Falko Drijfhout (Keele University); Dr. M. Eric Benbow (Michigan State University)