Dr. Orellana has experience with phytoplankton physiological ecology, dynamics of polymer gels, and processes of regulated exocytosis of polymers produced by phytoplankton and their roles in ecosystem dynamics including interactions with bacteria. Phytoplankton are organisms responsible for about 40 percent of the total photosynthesis that occurs in our planet and play a critical role in the global carbon cycle and ultimately in global climate. Dr. Orellana is applying a systems-based approach to understand carbon sequestration in the ocean, by focusing on proteins released by diatoms into seawater. Dr. Orellana is also interested in understanding the links between ocean processes and human health and is part of the University of Washington’s Pacific Northwest center for Human Health and Ocean Sciences and NOAA’s Oceans and Human Health initiative which investigate environmental conditions triggering blooms of harmful algae in our marine waters and ultimately, how these blooms impact human health.
Mónica V. Orellana
In The News
Dataset Highlight: Investigating Rotten Ice, with Dr. Karen Junge
The Arctic Data Center, supported by NSF, has highlighted Karen Junge’s work investigating rotten ice. Data has been collected on both the physical and biological properties of rotten ice and is available from the center.
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Women in Oceanography
Mónica V. Orellana is included in The Oceanography Society’s publication of “Women in Oceanography: A Decade Later.” This supplementary issue of Oceanography includes more that 200 autobiographical sketches that provide a broad view or the types of research oceanographers conduct.
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Selected Projects
EAGER: Marine biopolymers as tracers of major biogeochemical processes: Using proteomics and antibody-sensor technology
Recent advances in proteomics, biomarkers and biosensor technology sciences enable new approaches to understanding major biogeochemical processes. This project will examine the physicochemical reactivity of a model protein “RuBisCO” in seawater, and will quantify RuBisCO along ocean transect Line P (48°39.0′ N, 126°40.0′ W to 50°00′ N, 145°00′ W) in the North Pacific Ocean. The project will use two independent methods that complement and validate each other: immune-sensors and multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry.Intellectual Merit: Chemical analyses have shown that a significant fraction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the ocean is in the form of proteins. Proteins are a…
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Selected Publications
Sathe, S., Orellana, M. V., Baliga, N. S. and Durand, P. M. (2019), Temporal and metabolic overlap between lipid accumulation and programmed cell death due to nitrogen starvation in the unicellular chlorophyte Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Phycological Res., 67: 173-183. doi:10.1111/pre.12368
Otwell, A. E., López García de Lomana, A., Gibbons, S. M., Orellana, M. V. and Baliga, N. S. (2018), Systems biology approaches towards predictive microbial ecology. Environ Microbiol. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.14378.
Orellana, M.V. and C. Leck. 2014. Marine gels. In Hansel, D.A. & Carlson, C.A. Biogeochemistry of Dissolved Organic Carbon. 2nd Edition. Academic Press.
Tjernström, M., C. Lec, C. E. Birch, J. W. Bottenheim, B. J. Brooks, I. M. Brooks, L. Bäcklin, R.Y.-W. Chang, G. de Leeuw, L. Di Liberto, S. de la Rosa, E. Granath, M. Graus, A. Hanse, J. Heintzenberg, A. Held, A. Hind, P. Johnsto, J. Knulst, M. Martin, P. A. Matrai, T. Mauritsen, M. Müller, S. J. Norris, M.V. Orellana, D. A. Orsini, J. Paatero, P. O. G. Persson, Q. Gao, C. Rauschenberg, Z. Ristovsk, J. Sedlar, M. D. Shupe, B. Sierau, A. Sirevaag, S. Sjogren, O. Stetzer, E. Swietlicki, M. Szczodrak, P. Vaattovaara, N. Wahlberg, M. Westberg, and C. R. Wheeler. 2014. The Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS): overview and experimental design. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2823–2869, doi:10.5194/acp-14-2823-2014.
Orellana, M.V., W.L. Pang, P.M. Durand, K. Whitehead, N.S. Baliga. 2013. A role for programmed cell death in the microbial loop. PLoS ONE 8(5): e62595. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062595.
Ashworth, J, S. Coesel, A. Lee, E.V. Armbrust, M.V. Orellana, and N.S. Baliga. 2013. Genome-wide diel growth state transitions in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. PNAS, 110 (18) 7518–7523; doi:10.1073/pnas.1300962110.
Beer, K. D., M.V. Orellana, N.S.Baliga. 2013. Modeling the Evolution of C4 Photosynthesis. Cell: 153 (7): 1427-1429, doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.058
Kay, P., R. Choudhury, M. Nel, M.V. Orellana, P.M. Durand. 2013. Multicolour flow cytometry analyses and autofluorescence in chlorophytes: lessons from programmed cell death studies in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. J. Appl. Phycol. 10.1007%2Fs10811-013-9988-4.
Skubatz, H., M.V. Orellana, W.N. Howald. 2013. A NAD(P) reductase like protein is the salicylic acid receptor in the appendix of the Sauromatum guttatum inflorescence. Intrins Disor Proteins 1:e26372; DOI: 10.4161/idp.26372
Orellana, M.V and D.A Hansell. 2012. RuBisCO: a long lived protein in the deep ocean. Limnol. Oceanogr., 57(3): 826–834.
Orellana, M.V., P.A. Matrai, C. Leck, C.D. Rauschenberg, A.M. Lee, E. Coz. Marine microgels as a source of cloud condensation nuclei in the high Arctic. 2011. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U S A, 13612–13617, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1102457108
Orellana, M.V., P. Matrai, M. Janer, C, Rauchenberg. 2010. Storage of DMSP and DMS in secretory granules of Phaeocystis antarctica. J. Phycol. 47:12-117. DOI: 10.1111/j.1529-8817.2010.00936.x