I work in the development and optimization of molecular techniques to evaluate microbial organisms from bulk soils, plant roots and hyphae, and marine samples. I have experience in NextSeq sequencing, data analysis, and the optimization of metagenomic sequencing protocols from complex and low-yield environmental samples for Illumina and Nanopore platforms. Additionally, I have developed environmental sampling techniques, rapid viability assays, and multiplex qPCR assays for microbial detection.

M.S., Bioinformatics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 2022

B.S., Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California at Davis, 1996

Barcellos, D., Pérez Castro, S., Campbell, A., Kimbrel, J. A., Blazewicz, S. J., Wollard, J., Pett-Ridge, J., & Thompson, A. (2025). Duration of O₂ Exposure Determines Dominance of Fe^II vs CH₄ Production in Tropical Forest Soils. Environmental science & technology, 59(9), 4469–4481. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c12329

 

Parada, A. E., Mayali, X., Weber, P. K., Wollard, J., Santoro, A. E., Fuhrman, J. A., Pett-Ridge, J., & Dekas, A. E. (2023). Constraining the composition and quantity of organic matter used by abundant marine Thaumarchaeota. Environmental microbiology, 25(3), 689–704. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16299

 

Nuccio, E. E., Blazewicz, S. J., Lafler, M., Campbell, A. N., Kakouridis, A., Kimbrel, J. A., Wollard, J., Vyshenska, D., Riley, R., Tomatsu, A., Hestrin, R., Malmstrom, R. R., Firestone, M., & Pett-Ridge, J. (2022). HT-SIP: a semi-automated stable isotope probing pipeline identifies cross-kingdom interactions in the hyphosphere of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Microbiome, 10(1), 199. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-022-01391-z

 

Hestrin, R., Kan, M., Lafler, M., Wollard, J., Kimbrel, J. A., Ray, P., Blazewicz, S. J., Stuart, R., Craven, K., Firestone, M., Nuccio, E. E., & Pett-Ridge, J. (2022). Plant-associated fungi support bacterial resilience following water limitation. The ISME journal, 16(12), 2752–2762. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01308-6

 

Kim, H., Kimbrel, J. A., Vaiana, C. A., Wollard, J. R., Mayali, X., & Buie, C. R. (2022). Bacterial response to spatial gradients of algal-derived nutrients in a porous microplate. The ISME journal, 16(4), 1036–1045. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-021-01147-x

 

Dekas, A. E., Parada, A. E., Mayali, X., Fuhrman, J. A., Wollard, J., Weber, P. K., & Pett-Ridge, J. (2019). Characterizing Chemoautotrophy and Heterotrophy in Marine Archaea and Bacteria With Single-Cell Multi-isotope NanoSIP. Frontiers in microbiology, 10, 2682. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.02682

 

Sutton, M., Kane, S. R., & Wollard, J. R. (2015). Methyl Iodide Fumigation of Bacillus anthracis Spores. Journal of environmental health, 78(2), 14–19.

 

Agron, P. G., Walker, R. L., Kinde, H., Sawyer, S. J., Hayes, D. C., Wollard, J., & Andersen, G. L. (2001). Identification by subtractive hybridization of sequences specific for Salmonella enterica serovar enteritidis. Applied and environmental microbiology, 67(11), 4984–4991. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.67.11.4984-4991.2001

• Global Security Silver Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2024
• Physical Life Sciences Spot Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2024
• Director’s Institutional Operational Excellence Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2019
• Physical Life Sciences Spot Award, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2008