Victoria J. Orphan

Orphan developed and applied state-of-the-art molecular biology, mass spectrometry, and imaging techniques to study activities and interactions among individual microbial cells in nature. Among her discoveries are deep-sea methane-consuming microbial symbiotic consortia of bacteria and archaea. These perform anaerobic oxidation of methane that removes significant quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide, that would otherwise reach Earth’s atmosphere. Through her seminal work on the ecology of marine microbes, Orphan is elucidating biogeochemical processes fundamental to methane, sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon cycling, and increasing our understanding of key determinants of Earth’s climate.