About

Michael Sanderson holds a Ph.D. in Evolution and Ecology from the University of California, Davis. He is associated with the College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis, located in Storer Hall. His professional focus is on evolution and ecology, contributing to the academic community through his research and teaching. Further details about his specific research interests, background, or key contributions are not provided in the available page text.

Research topics

• Biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Chemistry
• Cell biology
• Biophysics

Selected publications

• Future overheating risk in prisons in England and Wales using the UK climate projections

  Frontiers in Climate · 2025-06-30 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  High temperatures, leading to overheating, impact the welfare of prisoners, staff and visitors in prisons in England and Wales. Quantifying current and future overheating risk can inform adaptation decision making and prioritisation of investment. In this study, a set of measurements of temperatures inside and outside six prisons, a magistrates court and an approved premises were used to establish a simple relationship between indoor and outdoor temperatures. This relationship is combined with an ensemble of climate projections and an open-source risk assessment framework, CLIMADA, to estimate the change in risk of indoor overheating. This framework supports a spatially consistent assessment of risk, enabling risk to be compared between sites. The expected number of days each prison cell or non-cell overheats is assessed for the recent past and global warming levels of 2°C and 4°C above the preindustrial era. The results indicate a large increase in risk of overheating in cells in the prisons and magistrates court, especially under 4°C of warming. The highest increases are seen in older prisons, where overheating could occur between 100 and 120 days per year if the climate warms to 4°C above pre-industrial. The overheating risk in other areas within the prisons is much smaller but still increases under a warming climate. These results show that retrofitting solutions will increasingly be needed to minimise overheating of the existing prison stock as our climate continues to warm, and that consideration of overheating needs to be incorporated into the design of new prisons.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Selective trace elements significantly enhanced methane production in coal bed methane systems by stimulating microbial activity

  Microbiology Spectrum · 2024-01-18 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT Trace elements are associated with the microbial degradation of organic matter and methanogenesis, as enzymes in metabolic pathways often employ trace elements as essential cofactors. However, only a few studies investigated the effects of trace elements on the metabolic activity of microbial communities associated with biogenic coalbed methane production. We aimed to determine the effects of strategically selected trace elements on structure and function of active bacterial and methanogenic communities to stimulate methane production in subsurface coalbeds. Microcosms were established with produced water and coal from coalbed methane wells located in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming, USA. In initial pilot experiments with eight different trace elements, individual amendments of Co, Cu, and Mo lead to significantly higher methane production. Transcript levels of mcrA , the key marker gene for methanogenesis, positively correlated with increased methane production. Phylogenetic analysis of the mcrA cDNA library demonstrated compositional shifts of the active methanogenic community and increase of their diversity, particularly of hydrogenotrophic methanogens. High-throughput sequencing of cDNA obtained from 16S rRNA demonstrated active and abundant bacterial groups in response to trace element amendments. Active Acetobacterium members increased in response to Co, Cu, and Mo additions. The findings of this study yield new insights into the importance of essential trace elements on the metabolic activity of microbial communities involved in subsurface coalbed methane and provide a better understanding of how microbial community composition is shaped by trace elements. IMPORTANCE Microbial life in the deep subsurface of coal beds is limited by nutrient replenishment. While coal bed microbial communities are surrounded by carbon sources, we hypothesized that other nutrients such as trace elements needed as cofactors for enzymes are missing. Amendment of selected trace elements resulted in compositional shifts of the active methanogenic and bacterial communities and correlated with higher transcript levels of mcrA . The findings of this study yield new insights to not only identify possible limitations of microbes by replenishment of trace elements within their specific hydrological placement but also into the importance of essential trace elements for the metabolic activity of microbial communities involved in subsurface coalbed methane production and provides a better understanding of how microbial community composition is shaped by trace elements. Furthermore, this finding might help to revive already spent coal bed methane well systems with the ultimate goal to stimulate methane production.

  PublisherDOI

• Fundamental Patterns of Structural Evolution Revealed by Chromosome-Length Genomes of Cactophilic <i>Drosophila</i>

  Genome Biology and Evolution · 2024-09-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  A thorough understanding of adaptation and speciation requires model organisms with both a history of ecological and phenotypic study as well as a complete set of genomic resources. In particular, high-quality genome assemblies of ecological model organisms are needed to assess the evolution of genome structure and its role in adaptation and speciation. Here, we generate new genomes of cactophilic Drosophila, a crucial model clade for understanding speciation and ecological adaptation in xeric environments. We generated chromosome-level genome assemblies and complete annotations for seven populations across Drosophila mojavensis, Drosophila arizonae, and Drosophila navojoa. We use these data first to establish the most robust phylogeny for this clade to date, and to assess patterns of molecular evolution across the phylogeny, showing concordance with a priori hypotheses regarding adaptive genes in this system. We then show that structural evolution occurs at constant rate across the phylogeny, varies by chromosome, and is correlated with molecular evolution. These results advance the understanding of the D. mojavensis clade by demonstrating core evolutionary genetic patterns and integrating those patterns to generate new gene-level hypotheses regarding adaptation. Our data are presented in a new public database (cactusflybase.arizona.edu), providing one of the most in-depth resources for the analysis of inter- and intraspecific evolutionary genomic data. Furthermore, we anticipate that the patterns of structural evolution identified here will serve as a baseline for future comparative studies to identify the factors that influence the evolution of genome structure across taxa.

  PublisherDOI

• Inherent differences of small airway contraction and Ca2+ oscillations in airway smooth muscle cells between BALB/c and C57BL/6 mouse strains

  Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · 2023-06-05 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  BALB/c and C57BL/6 mouse strains are widely used as animal model in studies of respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Asthma is characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness, which is eventually resulted from the excessive airway smooth muscle (ASM) contraction mediated by Ca 2+ oscillations in ASM cells. It is reported that BALB/c mice have inherently higher airway responsiveness, but show no different contractive response of tracheal ring as compared to C57BL/6 mice. However, whether the different airway responsiveness is due to the different extents of small airway contraction, and what’s underlying mechanism remains unknown. Here, we assess agonist-induced small airway contraction and Ca 2+ oscillations in ASM cells between BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice by using precision-cut lung slices (PCLS). We found that BALB/c mice showed an intrinsically stronger extent of small airway narrowing and faster Ca 2+ oscillations in ASM cells in response to agonists. These differences were associated with a higher magnitude of Ca 2+ influx via store-operated Ca 2+ entry (SOCE), as a result of increased expression of SOCE components (STIM1, Orai1) in the ASM cells of small airway of BALB/c mice. An established mathematical model and experimental results suggested that the increased SOC current could result in increased agonist-induced Ca 2+ oscillations. Therefore, the inherently higher SOC underlies the increased Ca 2+ oscillation frequency in ASM cells and stronger small airway contraction in BALB/c mice, thus higher airway responsiveness in BALB/c than C57BL/6 mouse strain.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A New Method for Controlling Vibration in Automotive Applications: Circular Force Generator Technology

  NOISE-CON proceedings · 2023-05-25

  article

  Automotive Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) continues to be critical to address in passenger vehicles, especially as new vehicles today emphasize the use of lighter weight materials that create even more challenging NVH issues. NVH can negatively impact drivability and comfort, as well as perceived vehicle quality. Moreover, with the development of increased driver ergonomic technologies and capabilities (audible or otherwise), NVH continues to be key in allowing these technologies to be fully effective. Both passive and active control technologies are used extensively to improve automotive NVH. The use of active noise and vibration control has become a standard solution approach in vehicles, especially to mitigate low-frequency noise and vibration inside the vehicle. Linear actuators have been used in active engine mounts as well as frame vibration control to mitigate passenger cabin NVH. This paper introduces a new lightweight approach for active vibration control for automotive applications. Controllable Circular Force Generator (CFG) technology is introduced to displace the use of larger, heavy linear electromagnetic technology, and is shown to provide improved performance with lower weight and cost.

  PublisherDOI

• An improved genome assembly of the saguaro cactus ( <i>Carnegiea gigantea</i> (Engelm.) Britton &amp; Rose)

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2023-04-11 · 3 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract We present an improved genome assembly of the saguaro cactus ( Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.) Britton &amp; Rose), obtained by incorporating long-read PacBio data to the existing short reads. The assembly improves in terms of total size, contiguity, and accuracy, allowing to extend the range of sequence analyses beyond the single-gene scale. Consequently, the assembly is 16% larger and has 20% more genes, expanding the resources for a neglected yet very remarkable plant family such as Cactaceae. Species taxonomy Eukaryota; Viridiplantae; Streptophyta; Streptophytina; Embryophyta; Tracheophyta; Euphyllophyta; Spermatophyta; Magnoliopsida; Mesangiospermae; eudicotyledons; Gunneridae; Pentapetalae; Caryophyllales; Cactineae; Cactaceae; Cactoideae; Echinocereeae; Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.) Britton &amp; Rose) (also known as saguaro cactus) (NCBI txid: 171969).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A New Method for Controlling Vibration in Automotive Applications: Circular Force Generator Technology

  SAE technical papers on CD-ROM/SAE technical paper series · 2023-05-08 · 3 citations

  article

  &lt;div class="section abstract"&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;Automotive Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH) continues to be critical to address in passenger vehicles, especially as new vehicles today emphasize the use of lighter weight materials that create even more challenging NVH issues. NVH can negatively impact drivability and comfort, as well as perceived vehicle quality. Moreover, with the development of increased driver ergonomic technologies and capabilities (audible or otherwise), NVH continues to be key in allowing these technologies to be fully effective. Both passive and active control technologies are used extensively to improve automotive NVH. The use of active noise and vibration control has become a standard solution approach in vehicles, especially to mitigate low-frequency noise and vibration inside the vehicle. Linear actuators have been used in active engine mounts as well as frame vibration control to mitigate passenger cabin NVH. This paper introduces a new lightweight approach for active vibration control for automotive applications. Controllable Circular Force Generator (CFG) technology is introduced to displace the use of larger, heavy linear electromagnetic technology, and is shown to provide improved performance with lower weight and cost.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

  PublisherDOI

• Summary of Dissemination and Communication Activities n.4

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2022-05-31

  reportOpen access

  This document describes and analyses the results of the communication and dissemination activities performed during the last stage of the project (M37 and M54) according to the plan exposed in the communication, dissemination and exploitation management document (D7.1)

  PublisherDOI

• Chromosome-length genome assemblies of cactophilic <i>Drosophila</i> illuminate links between structural and sequence evolution

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2022-10-17 · 3 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract A thorough understanding of adaptation and speciation requires model organisms with both a history of ecological and phenotypic study as well as a robust set of genomic resources. For decades, the cactophilic Drosophila species of the southwestern US and northern Mexico have fit this profile, serving as a crucial model system for understanding ecological adaptation, particularly in xeric environments, as well as the evolution of reproductive incompatibilities and speciation. Here, we take a major step towards gaining a complete molecular description of this system by assembling and annotating seven chromosome-length de novo genomes across the three species D. mojavensis, D. arizonae , and D. navojoa . Using this data, we present the most accurate reconstruction of the phylogenetic history of this clade to date. We further demonstrate a relationship between structural evolution and coding evolution both within and between species in this clade, and use this relationship to generate novel hypotheses for adaptation genes. All of our data are presented in a new public database ( cactusflybase.arizona.edu ), providing one of the most in-depth resources for the analysis of inter- and intraspecific evolutionary genomic data.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Climate Service Replicability Report

  Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2022-03-31 · 1 citations

  reportOpen access

  This document describes the Climate replicability and provides a competitive analysis under the Colombian coffee context.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R33HL087401

  NIH · $702k · 2010

• Reconciling Molecular and Fossil Evidence on the Age of Angiosperms

  NSF · $150k · 1998–2002

• NIH Grant R01HL071930

  NIH · $1.6M · 2008

• NIH Grant R01HL103405

  NIH · $3.6M · 2015

• Collaborative Research: Phylogenetic Trees for Comparative Biology

  NSF · $450k · 2008–2012

Frequent coauthors

• Pamela S. Soltis

  Florida Museum of Natural History

  106 shared

• Sudhir Kumar

  Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur

  101 shared

• Chris Henze

  Ames Research Center

  101 shared

• James S. Farris

  Gothenburg Botanic Garden

  100 shared

• David M. Hillis

  The University of Texas at Austin

  100 shared

• Gregory A. Wray

  Duke University

  100 shared

• Victor A. Albert

  University at Buffalo, State University of New York

  100 shared

• Martin F. Wojciechowski

  Arizona State University

  41 shared