Using Genetic and Bioinformatic Tools to Study Harmful Algae Blooms 

Kevin Meyer, 2015-2020 Postdoctoral Research Fellow
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Kevin Meyer joined CIGLR in 2015 as a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Greg Dick at the University of Michigan. In 2019, he completed his fellowship and joined the Army Corps of Engineers as an environmental engineer.

He received his B.S. in marine science-biology, with a minor in chemistry, from the University of Tampa in 2006, after which he spent a year as a fisheries observer in the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Observer Program. He went to graduate school at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory where he studied the “Red tide” dinoflagellate Karenia brevis in the Gulf of Mexico. Meyer studied Karenia brevis bloom dynamics and microbial interactions within the blooms using a combination of ecological and bioinformatics tools. He also was trained in the identification of harmful marine (and freshwater) microalgae by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and participated in the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) Microbial Oceanography: Genomes to Biomes course to further expand his HABs and microbial oceanography expertise.

While at CIGLR, Meyer studied freshwater HABs (mostly cyanobacteria) in the Great Lakes using a variety of genetic and bioinformatic tools. His worked has helped researchers better understand the drivers of bloom formation, termination, and toxicity so that innovative and effective management strategies could be implemented to reduce the impact of HABs on the Great Lakes and surrounding communities.