Stephen E. Noell

Welcome to my website! 

I am a microbiologist who studies the vast array of microorganisms that inhabit every corner of our large and diverse planet. I currently work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Waikato (Hamilton, New Zealand) in the Thermophile Research Unit.

What are the microorganisms that inhabit our planet? How do they survive in extreme environments and what aspects of their physiology enable them to thrive? I am addressing these sorts of questions using new (and old) techniques to bring microorganisms into the lab to study their physiology. I am pairing these experiments with culture-independent methods such as DNA sequencing and mesocosm experiments to help us understand the roles that microbes play in the environment. 

I have used these methods to further characterize the physiology of the most abundant group of bacteria in the world, the marine SAR11 group. I am currently using these methods to study the novel and endemic microorganisms predicted to inhabit the subsurface of Mt. Erebus in Antarctica, one of the most extreme environments in the world.

I have just received a Marsden Fast-Start research grant starting in early 2025 to study how the thermophilic (heat-loving) Cyanobacteria (photosynthetic bacteria) on Mt. Erebus survive the four months of complete darkness they experience every winter. I will be conducting winter darkness simulations in the lab using Erebus Cyanobacteria isolates, as well as a field "winter darkness" simulation using shades during the 2025-2026 field season on Erebus. See my page on "Mt. Erebus Cyanobacteria Survival" under "Research" for more information.