Gary Trubl

Portrait of Gary Trubl
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  • Title
    Microbiologist, Research Scientist
  • Email
    trubl1@llnl.gov
  • Phone
    (925) 422-1623
  • Organization
    PLS-BBTD-BIOSCIENCES, BIOTECHNOLOGY

Public Profiles

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Research Interests

I have always had a love for the environment and have been interested in how science and policy can shape our future. I love teaching and outreach, and believe it is our duty as scientists to shape the next generation. I use meta-omic approaches combined with other tools, such as stable isotope probing, to detect and characterize viruses and virus-microbe interactions in soil ecosystems. My passion is understanding the mechanisms viruses use to control microbial physiology and the ecosystem-level impact.

  • Microbial ecology
  • Virology
  • Environmental science
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Astrobiology
  • Geobiology
  • Soil microbiology
  • Meta-omics
  • Biotechnology

2018-2021, LLNL - Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, Postdoctoral Research Scientist

2018, Ohio State University, PhD

2013, University of Nevada, Reno, MS

2011, University of Arizona, BS

 

  1. Sieradzki, E.T., Allen, G.M., Kimbrel, J.A., Nicol, G.W., Hazard, C., Nuccio, E., Blazewicz, S.J., Pett-Ridge, J. and Trubl, G., 2025. Phosphate amendment drives bloom of RNA viruses after soil wet-up. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, p.109791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109791
  2. Trubl, G., Malard, L., and Rahlff J., 2025. Editorial: Ecology, evolution, and biodiversity of microbiomes and viromes from extreme environments. Frontiers in Microbiomes, in press.
  3. Cory, A.B., Wilson, R.M., Ogles, O.C., Crill, P.M., Li, Z., Chang, K.Y., Bosman, S.H., Rich, V.I., Chanton, J.P., EMERGE Project Coordinators, Hough, M., Dominguez, S., Irwin-Raab, N., Trubl, G., Jones, R.M., Anderson, D., and Isogenie Field Team 2025. On the relationship between methane production in anaerobic incubations of peat material and in situ methane emissions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 130(4), p.e2024JG008371. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JG008371
  4. Zhu, F., Rajan, S., Hayes, C.F., Kwong, K.Y., Goncalves, A.R., Zemla, A.T., Lau, E.Y., Zhang, Y., Cai, Y., Goforth, J.W., Landajuela, M., Gilchuk, P., Kierny, M., Dippel, A., Amofah, B., Kaplan, G., Peano, V.C., Morehouse, C., Sparklin, B., Gopalakrishnan, V., Tuffy, K.M., Nguyen, A., Beloor, J., Kijak, G., Liu, C., Dijokaite-Guraliuc, A., Mongkolsapaya, J., Screaton, G.R., Petersen, B.K., Desautels, T.A., Bennett, D., Conti, S., Segelke, B.W., Arrildt, K.T., Kaul, S., Grzesiak, E.A., Leno da Silva, F., Bates, T.W., Earnhart, C.G., Hopkins, S., Sundaram, S., Esser, M.T., Francica, J.R., Faissol, D.M., and LLNL Generative Unconstrained Intelligent Drug Engineering (GUIDE) consortium, 2025. Preemptive optimization of a clinical antibody for broad neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 variants and robustness against viral escape. Science Advances, 11(13), p.eadu0718. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adu0718
  5. Hazard, C., Anantharaman, K., Hillary, L.S., Neri, U., Roux, S., Trubl, G., Williamson, K., Pett-Ridge, J., Nicol, G.W. and Emerson, J.B., 2025. Beneath the surface: Unsolved questions in soil virus ecology. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, p.109780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109780
  6. Touceda-Suárez, M., Perry, M.A., Frizzo, R., Lotz-McMillen, J.H., Gilmore, R.A., Bennett, S.M., Basso, J.T., Donovan, W., Fudyma, J.D., Geonczy, S.E., Gittrich, M., Gogul, G., Hazard, C., Hillary, L.S., Jameson, E., Jiraska, L., Johnson, S.S., Kosmopoulos, J.C., Leleiwi, I., Ma, B., Mageeney, C.M., Millard, A., Neri, U., Rodríguez-Ramos, J., Roux, S., Tong, D., Wang, Y., Williamson, K., Wu, R., Dalcin Martins, P., Sapkota, R., Emerson, J.B., and Trubl, G., 2025. Meeting report: International soil virus conference 2024. Virus Research, p.199544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2025.199544
  7. Carreira, C., Lønborg, C., Acharya, B., Aryal, L., Buivydaite, Z., Borim Corrêa, F., Chen, T., Lorensen Elberg, C., Emerson, J.B., Hillary, L., Khadka, R.B., Langlois, V., , Mason-Jones, K., Netherway, T., Sutela, S., Trubl, G., Wang, R., White III, R., Kang'eri, A., Winding, A., Zhao, T., Sapkota, R. Integrating viruses into soil food web biogeochemistry. Nature Microbiology, pp.1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01767-x
  8. Sun, C.L., Pratama, A.A., Gazitúa, M.C., Cronin, D., McGivern, B.B., Wainaina, J.M., Vik, D.R., Zayed, A.A., Bolduc, B., IsoGenie Project Field Teams 2010‐2017, the IsoGenie and EMERGE Projects Coordinators and Wrighton, K.C., 2024. Virus ecology and 7‐year temporal dynamics across a permafrost thaw gradient. Environmental Microbiology, 26(8), p.e16665. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16665
  9. Schaible, M.J., Szeinbaum, N., 50 authors, Trubl, G., Vidaurri, M., Vincent, L., Weber, J.M., Weng, M.M., Wilpiszeki, R.L., and Young, A., 2024. Chapter 1: The Astrobiology Primer 3.0. Astrobiology, 24(S1), pp.S-4. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0129
  10. Colón-Santos, S., Vázquez-Salazar, A., Adams, A., Campillo-Balderas, J.A., Hernández-Morales, R., Jácome, R., Muñoz-Velasco, I., Rodriguez, L.E., Schaible, M.J., Schaible, G.A., Szeinbaum, N., Thweatt, J.L., and Trubl, G.,  2024. Chapter 2: What Is Life?. Astrobiology, 24(S1), pp.S-40. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0116
  11. Bozdag, G.O., Szeinbaum, N., Conlin, P.L., Chen, K., Fos, S.M., Garcia, A., Penev, P.I., Schaible, G.A. and Trubl, G., 2024. Chapter 5: Major Biological Innovations in the History of Life on Earth. Astrobiology, 24(S1), pp.S-107. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0119
  12. Chou, L., Grefenstette, N., Borges, S., Caro, T., Catalano, E., Harman, C.E., McKaig, J., Raj, C.G., Trubl, G. and Young, A., 2024. Chapter 8: Searching for Life Beyond Earth. Astrobiology, 24(S1), pp.S-164. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2021.0104
  13. Heinrichs, M.E., Piedade, G.J., Popa, O., Sommers, P., Trubl, G., Weissenbach, J. and Rahlff, J., 2023. Breaking the Ice: A Review of Phages in Polar Ecosystems. Bacteriophages: Methods and Protocols, pp.31-71. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3549-0_3
  14. Buivydaitė, Ž., Aryal, L., Corrêa, F.B., Chen, T., Langlois, V., Elberg, C., Netherway, T., Wang, R., Zhao, T., Acharya, B., Emerson, J.B., Hillary, L., Khadka, R.B., Mason-Jones, K., Sapkota, R., Sutela, S., Trubl, G., White III, R.A., ‪Winding, A., Carreira, C. Meeting Report: The First Soil Viral Workshop 2022. Virus Research, pp.199121-199121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2023.199121
  15. Trubl, G., Stedman, K., Bywaters, K.F., Matula, E.E., Sommers, P., Roux, S., Merino, N., Yin, J., Kaelber, J.T., Avila-Herrera, A., Johnson, P.A., Johnson, Borges, S., Weber, P., Pett-Ridge, J-P, Boston, P., K., 2023. Astrovirology: How viruses enhance our understanding of life in the universe. International Journal of Astrobiology, pp.1-25. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1473550423000058
  16. Wu R., Trubl G., Taş N., Jansson J.K., 2022. Permafrost as a Potential Pathogen Reservoir. One Earth, 5(4), pp. 351-360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.03.010
  17. Sokol, N.W., Slessarev, E., Marschmann, G.L., Nicolas, A., Blazewicz, S.J., Brodie, E.L., Firestone, M.K., Foley, M.M., Hestrin, R., Hungate, B.A., Koch, B.J., Stone, B.W., Sullivan, M.B., Zablocki, O., LLNL Soil Microbiome Consortium, and Pett-Ridge, J., 2022. Life and death in the soil microbiome: how ecological processes influence biogeochemistry. Nature Reviews Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00695-z
  18. Holmes, M.E., Crill, P.M., Burnett, W.C., McCalley, C.K., Wilson, R.M., Frolking, S., Chang, K.Y., Riley, W.J., Varner, R.K., Hodgkins, S.B., IsoGenie Project Coordinators, IsoGenie Field Team, McNichol, A.P., Saleska, S.R., Rich, V.I., and J. P. Chanton,  2022. Carbon accumulation, flux, and fate in Stordalen Mire, a permafrost peatland in transition. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 36(1), p.e2021GB007113. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GB007113
  19. †Mageeney, C.M., †Trubl, G., Williams, K., 2022. Improved mobilome delineation in fragmented genomes. Frontiers in Bioinformatics 2:866850. p.35. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbinf.2022.866850
  20. ter Horst, A.M., Santos-Medellín, C., Sorensen, J.W., Zinke, L.A., Wilson, R.M., Johnston, E.R., Trubl, G., Pett-Ridge, J., Blazewicz, S.J., Hanson, P.J. and Chanton, J.P., 2021. Minnesota peat viromes reveal terrestrial and aquatic niche partitioning for local and global viral populations. Microbiome, 9(1), pp.1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01156-0
  21. Trubl, G., Kimbrel, J.A., Liquet-Gonzalez, J., Nuccio E.E., Weber P.K., Pett-Ridge J., Jansson J.K., Waldrop M.P., Blazewicz S.J. 2021. Active virus-host interactions at sub-freezing temperatures in Arctic peat soil. Microbiome 9, 208. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-021-01154-2
  22. Sommers P., Chatterjee A., Varsani A., Trubl G., 2021. Integrating viral metagenomics into an ecological framework. Annual Review of Virology, 8. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-virology-010421-053015
  23. Taş, N., de Jong, A.E., Li, Y., Trubl, G., Xue, Y. and Dove, N.C., 2021. Metagenomic tools in microbial ecology research. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 67, pp.184-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2021.01.019
  24. Wilson, R.M., Zayed, A.A., Crossen, K.B., Woodcroft, B., Tfaily, M.M., Emerson, J., Raab, N., Hodgkins, S.B., Verbeke, B., Tyson, G., Crill, P., Saleska, S., Chanton, J.P., Rich, V.I., IsoGenie Project Coordinators, IsoGenie Project Field Team, 2021. Functional capacities of microbial communities to carry out large scale geochemical processes are maintained during ex situ anaerobic incubation. PLoS One. 16(2):e0245857. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245857
  25. Bolduc B, Hodgkins SB, Varner RK, Crill PM, McCalley CK, Chanton JP, Tyson GW, Riley WJ, Palace M, Duhaime MB, Hough MA, IsoGenie Project Coordinators, IsoGenie Project Team, A2A Project Team, Saleska SR, Sullivan MB, Rich VI. 2020. The IsoGenie database: an interdisciplinary data management solution for ecosystems biology and environmental research. PeerJ 8:e9467. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9467
  26. Hyman P., Trubl G. and Abedon S.T., 2020. Virus-Like Particle: Evolving Meanings in Different Disciplines. Therapy, Applications, and Research, 2(1), pp.11-15. https://doi.org/10.1089/phage.2020.0026
  27. Trubl G., Hyman P., Roux S., Abedon S.T. 2020. Coming-of-Age Characterization of Soil Viruses: A User’s Guide to Virus Isolation, Detection within Metagenomes, and Viromics. Soil Systems, 4(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems4020023
  28. Van Goethem M.W., Swenson T.L., Trubl G., Roux S., Northern T.R. 2019. Characteristics of Wetting-Induced Bacteriophage Blooms in Biological Soil Crust. mBio, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02287-19
  29. Trubl G., Roux S., Solonenko N., Li Y-F., Rodríguez-Ramos J., Bolduc B., Eloe-Fadrosh E.A., Rich V.I., & Sullivan M.B. 2019. Towards optimized viral metagenomes for double-stranded and single-stranded DNA viruses from challenging soils. PeerJ 7:e7265. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7265
  30. Roux S., Trubl G., Goudeau D., Nath N., Couradeau E., Ahlgren N.A., Zhan Y., Marsan D., Chen F., Fuhrman J.A., Northen T.R., Coleman M.L., Sullivan M.B., Rich V.I., Malmstrom R.R., Eloe-Fadrosh E.A. 2019. Optimizing de novo genome assembly from PCR-amplified metagenomes. PeerJ 7:e6902. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6902
  31. Trubl G., Jang H-B., Roux S., Emerson J.B., Bolduc B., Solonenko N., Vik D.R., Ellenbogen J., Runyon A.T., Solden L., Woodcroft B.J., Tyson G.W., Wrighton K.C., Saleska S.R., Sullivan M.B., & Rich V.I. 2018. Soil viruses are underexplored players in ecosystem carbon processing. mSystems, 3(5), pp.e00076-18.
  32. Emerson J.B., Roux S., Brum J.R., Bolduc B., Woodcroft B.J., Jang H-B., Singleton C.M., Solden L.M., Naas A.E., Boyd J.A., Hodgkins S.B., Wilson R.M., Trubl G., Li C., Frolking S., Pope P.B., Wrighton K.C., Crill P.M., Chanton J.P., Saleska S.R., Tyson G.W., Rich V.I., & Sullivan M.B. 2018. Host-linked soil viral ecology along a permafrost thaw gradient. Nature Microbiology, 3, 870–880; DOI: 10.1038/s41564-018-0190-y.
  33. Ostrom N.E., Gandhi H., Trubl G., and Murray A.E. 2016. Chemodenitrification in the cryoecosystem of Lake Vida, Victoria Valley, Antarctica. Geobiology, 14(6), pp. 575-587.
  34. Trubl G., Solonenko N., Chittick L., Solonenko S.A., Rich V.I. and Sullivan M.B. 2016. Optimization of viral resuspension methods for carbon-rich soils along a permafrost thaw gradient. PeerJ, 4, p.e1999.
  35. Brum J. R., Kim E-K., Ignacio-Espinoza J.C., Trubl G., Jones R., VerBerkmoes N., Rich V.I., & Sullivan M.B. 2016. Illuminating structural proteins in viral ‘dark matter’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(9), pp.2436-2441.
  36. Kuhn E., Ichimura A.S., Peng V., Fritsen C.H., Trubl G., Doran P.T., Murray A.E. 2014. Brine assemblages of ultra-small microbial cells within the ice cover of Lake Vida, Antarctica. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 80, (12): 3687-3698.
  • College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resource’s Outstanding Graduate Student, University of Nevada, Reno (2013)
  • Agouron International Geobiology course scholar (2014)
  • University of Arizona Sky School fellow (2014–2015)
  • 2016 NASA astrobiology institute summer school scholar (Santander, Spain)
  • Astrobiology Science Conference 2017 travel award
  • DOE-SCGSR fellowship at JGI (June 4–November 1, 2018)
  • Best poster award at LLNL postdoc symposium (May 1, 2019)
  • LLNL Research Slam finalist (Oct. 29, 2019)
  • Physical & Life Sciences Summer Directorate Award for Excellence in Publication (2022)
  • Joint Genome Institute New Investigator Community Science Program award (2022)
  • Physical & Life Sciences Summer Directorate Award for Excellence in Publication (2023)