Faculty Bio

Laura Tuhela-Reuning

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences; Natural Sciences Division Chair; Scanning Electron Microscope Facility Director

Education

• B.S., M.S., Ph.D., The Ohio State University

About

Laura Tuhela-Reuning is an environmental microbiologist who studies motility in aquatic bacteria and feather degradation by bacteria native to bird plumage. Her current research involves avian microbiology and chemotaxis of Bacillus spp. originally isolated from songbird plumage. She is also the manager of the G.W. Burns Scanning Electron Microscope laboratory and teaches students to use Ohio Wesleyan's scanning electron microscope. Tuhela-Reuning is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the Microscopy Society of America.

Areas of Interest / Expertise

Teaching interests: Introduction to Microbiology, Electron Microscopy: Theory and Practice

• Freshwater bacteria
• Avian microbiology
• Electron microscopy

Publications / Presentations

• Tuhela-Reuning, Laura., et al. "Community and Ecosystem Responses to a Pulsed Pesticide Disturbance in Freshwater Ecosystems." Ecotoxicology. 17 (2008): 539–548.
• Reif*, K.E., R.A. Carreno, and L. Tuhela. 2005. Observations on Leidynema portentosae van Waerebeke, 1978 (Nematoda: Oxyurida) from Gromphadorhina portentosa (Insecta: Blattodea). Acta Parasitologica. 50(4):332–335.
• G. S. Hamaoui*, Jr., L. Tuhela, M.N. Spilde, R.L. Sinsabaugh, and D.E. Northup. 2007. Identification of microbial signatures in biogenic cave ferromanganese deposits (FMD). Abstr. N-249. Amer. Soc. Microbiol. Gen. Meet. Toronto, ON.
• D.M. Reznik*, L. Tuhela, and J.M. Ichida. 2007. Evaluation of feather damage and production of soluble oligopeptides from poultry waste by keratinases from bacilli. Abstr. I-025. Amer. Soc. Microbiol. Gen. Meet. Toronto, ON.
• J. Brenneman*, R.A. Carreno, and L. Tuhela. 2006. Morphological analysis of abursate nematodes parasitic in the lungs of mammals. Microscopy & Microanalysis 2006, Chicago, IL.
• L. Tuhela. 2006. Conversation, Concepts, and Connections: Use of In-Class Student Discussions to Promote Student Learning and Connection of Concepts in Microbiology. Abstr. W-007. Amer. Soc. Microbiol. Gen. Meet., Orlando, FL.
• Miller*, S.R. and L. Tuhela. 2005. Isolation and identification of wild songbird plumage microbes without the use of culture techniques. Abstr. N-121, Amer. Soc. Microbiol. Gen. Meet., Atlanta, GA.
• Robinson*, A.R., L.S. Corthell*, and L. Tuhela. 2005. Bacterial motility of freshwater isolates from the Kraus Wilderness Preserve. Abstr. N-003, Amer. Soc. Microbiol. Gen. Meet., Atlanta, GA.

* Indicates Ohio Wesleyan undergraduate student