Nicole Hynson
Director, C-MĀIKI (Center for Microbiome Analysis through Island Knowledge & Investigation)
Professor, Pacific Biosciences Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
Phone: (808) 956-9490
E-mail: nhynson@hawaii.edu
MY RESEARCH
My lab group seeks to understand the microbial (primarily fungal) underpinnings of host and environmental health through applied and theoretical ecological research. We are experts in the mycorrhizal symbiosis between plants and root inhabiting fungi, but also work across study systems to answer fundamental questions in microbial ecology and find microbiome-based solutions for some of our global challenges such as extinction and climate change.
C-MĀIKI SYNERGY
As the Director of C-MĀIKI I support our faculty, students and staff through fundraising, coordinating research and training efforts, and leading our mission and vision. My research adds a mycological, ecological and theoretical angle to our collaborative science.
IMPACT TO HAWAII
Hawaiʻi is infamous as the "endangered species capital of the world" my research aims to level the extinction crisis curve in Hawaiʻi by working directly with land managers and local conservation agencies on microbiome-based strategies to help save some of our most threatened and endangered species.