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Luke Fisher
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Luke A. Fisher is a postdoctoral research associate with the Functional and Systems Biology group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). With a focus on microbial physiology, adaptive laboratory evolution, strain engineering, and laboratory automation, Luke currently contributes to research associated with EMSL's Anaerobic Microbial Phenotyping Platform (AMP2) and Microbial Molecular Phenotyping Capability (M²PC). Both use automated, high-throughput approaches to study and engineer microorganisms.

Luke joined PNNL as a postdoc in 2026 after completing his PhD at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California (UC) San Diego. His doctoral research focused on microbial adaptation to extreme environments, particularly elevated hydrostatic pressure and concentrated chaotropic salts. He used adaptive laboratory evolution, multiomics integration, and targeted genetic approaches to investigate how microorganisms respond to and evolve under these conditions. His research also included field work in Western Australia where he isolated novel anaerobic extremophiles from ephemeral acid brines in the Yilgarn Craton.

His broader research interests include deep-sea microbiology, synthetic biology, extremophile physiology, and understanding microbial growth and evolution under conditions relevant to the deep biosphere, brines, and potentially habitable extraterrestrial environments.

Research Interests

  • Synthetic biology
  • Microbiology
  • Biotechnology
  • Extremophiles
  • Astrobiology

Education

  • PhD in Marine Biology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, 2025
  • BS in Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, 2019

Awards and Recognition

  • ZoBell Fellowship, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, 2023
  • Graduate Student Researcher Fellowship, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, 2019
  • Babbidge Scholar, University of Connecticut, 2019

Publications

2026

  • Fisher, L.A., Coffin, C.H., Palmiotto, T., Royer, C.A., Schmidt, B.E., Bowman, J.S., and Bartlett, D.H. (2026) Adaptive laboratory evolution of E. coli to magnesium chloride stress reveals noncanonical routes to broad chaotropic salt resistance. Frontiers in Microbiology Volume 17 - 2026. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1898632.
     
  • Fisher, L.A., Dangre, S.R., McKaig, J.M., Lawson, P.A., Inman, B.G., Odenheimer, A., Plattner, T.A., Quartini, E., Carr, C.E., Doran, P.T., Bowman, J.S., Schmidt, B.E., and Bartlett, D.H. (2026) Halotolerantifilum yawarlongkerapense gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel halotolerant and thermotolerant bacterium isolated from Lake Warden, and proposal of Guggenheimellaceae fam. nov. in the order Peptostreptococcales.  International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 76. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.007084.
     
  • Plattner, T.A., Schmidt, B.E., Fernandez, N.M., Doran, P.T., Birmingham, M.A., Weber, J.M., Celestian, A., Ingall, E.D., Bowman, J.S., Som, S.M., Odenheimer, A., Bornholdt, T., Sephus, C., Jamison, H.T., Russo, K., Buessecker, S., Fisher, L.A., Klempay, B., Paris, E.R., ..., and Quartini, E. (2026) Groundwater Connectivity and Buffering in Western Australian Hypersaline Lakes: Implications for Late-Stage Martian Lacustrine Systems. Earth and Space Science 13: e2026EA005066. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EA005066. 

2025

  • Fisher, L.A., Dangre, S.R., Odenheimer, A., Patel, N., Doran, P.T., Bowman, J.S., Schmidt, B.E., and Bartlett, D.H. (2025) Dethiothermospora halolimnae gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel moderately halophilic, thermotolerant, bacterium isolated from a brine lake. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 75. https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.006760.
     
  • Fisher, L.A., Bovee, A.R., McKaig, J.M., Klempay, B., Pontefract, A., Carr, C.E., Schmidt, B.E., Bowman, J.S., and Bartlett, D.H. (2025) Inverse Relationship Between Halophilic Growth and Cell Integrity Under Extremely Chaotropic Conditions. Astrobiology 25: 648-663. https://doi.org/10.1177/15311074251376365.
     
  • Weng, M.M., Klempay, B., Bowman, J.S., Fisher, L.A., Camplong, C., Doran, P.T., Rundell, S., Glass, J.B., Dutta, A., Pontefract, A., Bartlett, D.H., Schmidt, B., and Johnson, S.S. (2025) Light cues drive community-wide transcriptional shifts in the hypersaline South Bay Salt Works. Communications Biology 8: 450. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07855-w.

2024

  • *Coffin, C.H., *Fisher, L.A., Crippen, S., Demers, P., Bartlett, D.H., and Royer, C.A. (2024) Response and adaptation of the transcriptional heat shock response to pressure. Frontiers in Microbiology Volume 15 - 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1470617.

    * The authors contributed equally to the work.
     
  • Pozarycki, C., Seaton, K.M., C. Vincent, E., Novak Sanders, C., Nuñez, N., Castillo, M., Ingall, E., Klempay, B., Pontefract, A., Fisher, L.A., Paris, E.R., Buessecker, S., Alansson, N.B., Carr, C.E., Doran, P.T., Bowman, J.S., Schmidt, B.E., and Stockton, A.M. (2024) Biosignature Molecules Accumulate and Persist in Evaporitic Brines: Implications for Planetary Exploration. Astrobiology 24: 795-812. https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2023.0122. 

2023

  • Bernhard, J.M., Fisher, L.A., Murphy, Q., Sen, L., Yeh, H.D., Louyakis, A., Gomaa, F., Reilly, M., Batta-Lona, P.G., Bucklin, A., Le Roux, V., and Visscher, P.T. (2023) Transition from stromatolite to thrombolite fabric: potential role for reticulopodial protists in lake microbialites of a Proterozoic ecosystem analog. Frontiers in Microbiology Volume 14 - 2023. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1210781.

2021

  • Fisher, L.A., Pontefract, A., M. Som, S., Carr, C.E., Klempay, B., E. Schmidt, B., S. Bowman, J., and Bartlett, D.H. (2021) Current state of athalassohaline deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basin research—recommendations for future work and relevance to astrobiology. Environmental Microbiology 23: 3360-3369. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15414.
     
  • Klempay, B., Arandia‐Gorostidi, N., Dekas, A.E., Bartlett, D.H., Carr, C.E., Doran, P.T., Dutta, A., Erazo, N., Fisher, L.A., Glass, J.B., Pontefract, A., Som, S.M., Wilson, J.M., Schmidt, B.E., and Bowman, J.S. (2021) Microbial diversity and activity in Southern California salterns and bitterns: analogues for remnant ocean worlds. Environmental Microbiology 23: 3825-3839. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15440.