Mary Lipton

Dr. Mary Lipton holds a joint appointment as Research Professor at Washington State University (WSU) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), where she leads the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). She was awarded AAAS Fellow in 2023 for her groundbreaking work in microbial molecular profiling. With a PhD from the University of South Carolina (1993), her research focuses on applying mass spectrometry-based technologies to study microbial communities in ecosystems, emphasizing bioenergy production, carbon cycling, and symbiotic interactions.

Her work explores mechanisms of microbial symbiosis, including interactions between leaf-cutting ants and fungal gardens, and the role of proteomics/metabolomics in plant-microbe relationships. Key research areas include soil microbiome responses to environmental shifts like rewetting, viral impacts on carbon cycling, and algal biofuel optimization.

• Recent studies use real-time mass spectrometry (RTMS) and multi-omics approaches to analyze soil carbon dynamics, microbial lipidomes, and drought recovery.
• Her work bridges fundamental science and applied challenges like sustainable bioenergy production and climate resilience.

Awards: AAAS Fellow (2023), extensive grants via EMSL projects (e.g., #51636, #60144).

Lab affiliations: EMSL at PNNL, WSU Tri-Cities campus. Collaborations span microbial ecology, analytical chemistry, and systems biology.