Michael F. Cohen
Assistant Professor of Biology
Ph.D. University of California (Davis), 1996
Voicemail: (707) 664-3413;
Email: cohenm@sonoma.edu
Office: Darwin 222
webpage
Postdoctoral Experience:
Veterans Administration Hospital (Sepulveda, CA), University of Ryukyus (Okinawa, Japan), USDA-Agricultural Research Service (Wenatchee, WA).
Research Interests:
Environmental Microbiology, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Sudden Oak Death, Nitric Oxide Biology; Fuel Production from Wastewater-Cultivated Algae.
Research Program:
In my laboratory, we study a diverse array of environmental microbes. One project, funded by the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station, seeks to determine the potential of leaf-dwelling bacteria and amoebae for controlling the severity and spread of Sudden Oak Death disease cuased by Phytophthora ramorum. In collaboration with Dr. Mark Mazzola of the USDA-ARS in Washington State, we are investigating protective microbial activities that limit the capacity of pathogens to infect host plants. Another major research effort of my lab is the development of affordable systems for concomitant bioremediation and bioenergy production. Working with the city of Santa Rosa, we are testing wastewater effluent scrubbers that utilize floating algal mats (metaphyton) to remove nutrients and other pollutants from the water while providing harvested biomass as feedstock for methane-producing anaerobic digesters. We have also been working with a local dairy farm on producing methane from hydraulically-separated manure solids.
Representative Publications:
Mazzola M., Brown J., Izzo AD, Cohen MF (2007) Mechanism of action and efficacy seen meal-induced pathogen suppression differ in a Brassicaceae species and time-dependent manner. Phytopathology, 97:454-460.
Yamasaki H, Cohen MF. (2006) NO signal at the crossroads: polyamine-induced nitric oxide synthesis in plants? Trends Plant Sci 11(11):522-524.
Cohne MF, Mazzola M (2006) Effects of Brassica napus seed meal amendment on soil populations polulations of resident bacteria and Naegleria americana, and the unsuitability of arachidonic acid as a protozoan-specific marker. J Protozool Res 16:16-25.
Cohen MF, Mazzola M. (2006) Resident soil bacteria, nitric oxide emission and particulate size modulate the effect of Brassica napus seed meal on disease incited by Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium spp. Plant Soil 286:75-86.
Cohen MF, Yamasaki H, Mazzola M. 2006. Nitric oxide research in agriculture: Bridging the plant and bacterial realms. In: Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants: Toward the improvement of global environment and food. A.K. Rai and T. Takabe, Eds., Springer Verlag, p. 71-90.
Cohen MF, Yamasaki H, Mazzola M. 2005. Brassica napus seed meal soil amendment modifies microbial community structure, nitric oxide production and incidence of Rhizoctonia root rot. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 37(7):1215-1227.
Cohen MF, Mazzola M. 2004. A reason to be optimistic about biodiesel: Seed meal as a valuable soil amendment. Trends Biotechnology 22(5):210-211.
Course Offerings:
Molecular and Cell Biology; Bacteriology; Environmental Microbiology; Microbial Physiology.