{"id":41085,"date":"2015-12-08T12:33:10","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T22:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=41085"},"modified":"2021-06-14T12:53:52","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T22:53:52","slug":"undergrad-helps-discover-new-bacterium-on-way-to-marine-biology-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2015\/12\/08\/undergrad-helps-discover-new-bacterium-on-way-to-marine-biology-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"Undergrad helps discover new bacterium on way to marine biology degree"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
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Terasakiispira papahanaumokuakeensis<\/em>, spiral-shaped bacterium grown from a pond on the Pearl and Hermes Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A UH<\/abbr> Mānoa undergraduate who conducted a research project on her way to earning a bachelor of science degree in 2014 in marine biology<\/a> was instrumental in the discovery of a spiral-shaped bacterium that is the only known representative of a new genus and species.<\/p>\n

Vanessa K. Zepeda<\/strong>, 30, is the lead author of a paper published in the current issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology<\/a><\/em>. She worked with advisor Stuart Donachie<\/strong>, chair of the Department of Microbiology in the College of Natural Sciences<\/a>, on research that led to the discovery and cultivation of the bacterium named Terasakiispira papahanaumokuakeensis<\/em>, which reflects its origin in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument<\/a>.<\/p>\n