biology

Geoffrey Michael Gadd

Geoffrey Michael Gadd is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geoffrey Michael Gadd rather than just read about it. In short: Geoffrey Michael Gadd (born 15 July 1954) is a British-Irish microbiologist and mycologist specializing in geomicrobiology, geomycology, and bioremediation. He is currently an emeritus professor at the University of Dundee.

Key takeaways

Geoffrey Michael Gadd belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Geoffrey Michael Gadd to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Geoffrey Michael Gadd from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Geoffrey Michael Gadd (born 15 July 1954) is a British-Irish microbiologist and mycologist specializing in geomicrobiology, geomycology, and bioremediation. He is currently an emeritus professor at the University of Dundee. Gadd contributes to his field's vitality via contributions to many professional societies and national and international editorial, advisory groups, and committees. He was President of the British Mycological Society (2004–2007), is currently Treasurer (2008–) and a member of several BMS committees. He served the former Society for General Microbiology (now Microbiology Society) as Convenor of the Environmental Microbiology group (2005–2008) and was the first Chair of the Eukaryotic Division (2008–2010). He also served on the Cell Biology; Physiology and Biochemistry; and Environmental Microbiology Groups and organized several SGM meetings and Main symposia. He has given invited lectures at over 130 national/international venues and presented keynote/plenary lectures in over 20 countries.

Career Gadd gained a B.Sc. (1975) and Ph.D. (1978) in microbiology, University College Cardiff, Wales, and after an AFRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (1978) at the University of Dundee, with William Stewart, was appointed to a lectureship in microbiology (1979). He was promoted to personal chair in microbiology in 1995 and became head of the Department of Biological Sciences in 1999. He is a former deputy research director of the School of Life Sciences (2000-2006), head of the Division of Environmental and Applied Biology (2000-2007), Division of Molecular and Environmental Microbiology (2007-2009), and was founding head of the Division of Molecular Microbiology (2009). Geoffrey Gadd currently holds the Boyd Baxter Chair of Biology at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee and leads the Geomicrobiology Group. Research is in the field of geomicrobiology, particularly the roles of fungi and other microorganisms, in metal-mineral interactions and transformations, and their relevance to environmental processes, element cycling, mineral formation or dissolution, and bioremediation and element biorecovery. Most research has concentrated on fungi and has ranged from cellular and biochemical aspects to the environment and biotechnology, with other significant research on sulfate-reducing bacterial systems for metal bioremediation. Original contributions relate to establishing the field of geomycology within geomicrobiology, and the multidisciplinary research outputs at the interface of microbiology, mineralogy, and geochemistry have greatly furthered understanding of the processes underlying metal and radionuclide accumulation, detoxification and tolerance, mechanisms affecting metal mobility in the environment, mineral dissolution, the formation of biogenic minerals, and biodeterioration of the built environment and cultural heritage. The environmental and biotechnological significance of these phenomena is a consistent focus.

Recent research The COG3 consortium is a NERC funded project joint with six universities from the UK and The Natural History Museum investigating “The Geology, Geometallurgy, and Geomicrobiology of Cobalt Resources Leading to New Product Streams” (joint with Natural History Museum and Universities of Manchester, Bangor, Exeter, Loughborough, and Southampton). A recent paper with Marina Fomina and colleagues in Kyiv, Ukraine describes the isolation of a Rhodococcus aetherivorans strain from lubricant-contaminated soil as a prospective phenol biodegrading agent. The R. aetherivorans strain showed higher efficiency in phenol degradation compared to other strains of phenol degrading bacteria

Publications Publications include over 300 refereed papers, 2 co-authored books, over 50 edited books (2 as sole editor), and over 50 invited book chapters. Six patents have arisen from applied research relating to detoxification of metals and radionuclides. Web of Science analysis shows over 300 records, h-index = 64 (21 February 2020). Google Scholar shows 31759 citations and a h-index of 89 (3 September 2020). The latest book, co-authored with Byung Hong Kim, on Prokaryotic Metabolism and Physiology was published in 2019 by Cambridge University Press, The book describes the different metabolic processes of prokaryotic microorganisms taking place in different conditions and their roles in the environment, biotechnology, and human health. Gadd has published in a variety of important journals including Environmental Microbiology, Nature Microbiology, Nature Biotechnology, Current Biology, Environmental Science Nano and Fungal Biology.

Honours and awards Source:

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geoffrey Michael Gadd

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geoffrey Michael Gadd claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geoffrey Michael Gadd before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geoffrey Michael Gadd ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geoffrey Michael Gadd

In research: Geoffrey Michael Gadd appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Geoffrey Michael Gadd in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Geoffrey Michael Gadd is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1954 births, Academics of the University of Dundee, Alumni of Cardiff University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Geoffrey Michael Gadd outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Geoffrey Michael Gadd in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Geoffrey Michael Gadd means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Geoffrey Michael Gadd out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geoffrey Michael Gadd in simple terms?

Why does Geoffrey Michael Gadd matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geoffrey Michael Gadd?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geoffrey Michael Gadd.