Brittany N Zepernick

Dr. Zepernick received her Honors B.S. in Biology (with a specialization in aquatic science) from Bowling Green State University in 2017. Following, she completed her PhD in Microbiology at the University of Tennessee in 2023 - where she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She subsequently held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Tennessee (South Eastern Conference Emerging Scholars Postdoctoral Fellow) and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow). Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and Marine Biology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). She has co-authored 20 peer-reviewed publications to date and presented at 15 regional - international scientific conferences. Her research spans the global freshwater-marine continuum - with field sites such as the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, Laurentian Great Lakes, African Great Lakes and the Southern Ocean.

Education

Ph.D. in Microbiology, University of Tennessee
B.S. in Biology, Bowling Green State University

Specialization in Teaching

Dr. Zepernick currently teaches Global Environmental Problems (BIO 378) at UNCW. In the past, she has taught a variety of courses including an undergraduate senior seminar - Perspectives in Microbiology (MICR 495), graduate-level Grant Writing (MICR 594) and graduate-level Advanced Techniques in Field Microbiology (MICR 669) at the University of Tennessee.

Research Interests

Dr. Zepernick's research is broadly centered at the intersection of algal blooms, environmental variability and the global freshwater-marine continuum. In particular, her lab seeks to elucidate the factors that constrain the ecology and physiology of a variety of phytoplankton (algae) responsible for critical ecosystem resources and global biogeochemical cycles. Equally of interest are the algae known to produce toxigenic secondary metabolites which are harmful to human and mammalian health. The Phytoplankton EcoPhySi 'omics (PEPSi) Lab applies a variety of laboratory (in vitro), field (in situ) and bioinformatic (in silico) techniques to investigate research questions focused on their favorite phytoplankton phyla - cyanobacteria, diatoms and dinoflagellates. By combining laboratory and environmental studies with cutting-edge molecular techniques - the Zepernick lab bridges the physiology of a single cell in the lab with the ecology of a complex community in the sea. In particular, researchers within the PEPSi lab synergistically combine the core facets of the bioinformatic toolkit - metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics.