Mengqi Sun Email and Phone Number

- Collected 8 water samples from the Pearl River Estuary summer hypoxic zone near Zhuhai, Guangdong;- Sequenced and characterized the microbial, algal, fish and viral community of the Pearl River Estuary hypoxic zone;- Studied the diversity and function of virus auxiliary metabolic genes(AMGs) in the microbial community of the hypoxic zone in the Pearl River Estuary, their connection to their microbial hosts, and correlation to environmental conditions;- Sequenced and characterized the DNA and RNA of 16 microbial and viral samples across 4 different estuaries in China, including transcriptomics and analysis of auxiliary metabolic genes of DNA and RNA viruses.- Received the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Young Scientists Fund (300,000 CNY);- Gave 2 graduate level lectures on viral ecology and environmental virus quantification methods.

- PhD thesis: Estuarine virioplankton: Viromics, biogeography, and viral populations. - Characterized the viral community in Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay by investigating 16 viromes collected across different seasons and locations, generating one of the highest quality viromic databases (Delmarva Estuarine Virome) of the time;- Estimated the abundance of N4-like viruses in the esturarine and ocean environments using 3 alternative methods, with evaluation of the pros and cons of different methodology;- Categorized SAR11 phage (pelagiphage) into genomic groups and characterized the proportions of different pelagiphage in estuarine and oceanic environments;- Maintained and archived a collection of microalgae cultures.

Teaching assistant for general microbiology lab class.- Led a lab course for undergraduate students at University of Maryland, College Park- Gave 2 lectures on microbial mutations and horizontal gene transfer

- Isolated, cultured and characterized a novel siphovirus from coastal Yellow Sea;- Sequenced, annotated and compared the novel viral genome to other similar viruses.

Front desk for international student hostel on campus.