In the Goff Lab, we're uncovering how fire—or the lack of it—shapes forest soils and the invisible microbial communities that live within them. Our research focuses on how fire history affects soil nitrogen and carbon cycling by microorganisms, with significant implications for climate change and plant productivity. 

We're comparing soils from forests that have been regularly burned with those where fire has been suppressed for decades. Using DNA and RNA sequencing, chemical analyses, and gas flux measurements, we're identifying which microbes are active, which genes they’re using, and how their activity contributes to nitrogen emissions. Currently, we are performing research at two fire-dependent ecosystems: (1) the Albany Pine Bush (NY) and (2) the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area (TN).

This work is helping us understand how forest management practices influence not just biodiversity and ecosystem health, but also climate feedbacks. This work is funded in part by the US Department of Energy.

Benot, A. O., Waldschmidt, G., Tiyapun, C., Okyere, I. J., & Goff, J. L. (2025). Metagenomic characterization of fire-adapted soil microbiomes in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. Microbiology resource announcements, 14(10), e00664-25.

We study how bacteria respond to exposure from multiple heavy metals—an increasingly common issue in polluted environments. While most research looks at one metal at a time, real-world contamination usually involves mixtures. Our work shows that when metals like nickel and copper are combined, they can disrupt bacterial systems in unexpected ways, triggering stress responses that don’t occur with single metals.

Using both environmental bacteria and lab models like E. coli, we’ve found that metal mixtures can interfere with iron homeostasis, cofactor stability, central carbon metabolism, and cellular respiration. Surprisingly, these effects are distinct from the individual metal exposures, revealing new layers of complexity in how bacteria sense and respond to their environment.

By understanding these responses, we hope to better predict the impact of pollution on microbial life, which plays a critical role in soil health, water quality, and ecosystem stability.

This research is supported in part by the Syracuse University Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy System Innovations and the SUNY Center for Applied Microbiology.

Model for decreased nitrate/nitrite reductase activity during mixed metal exposure. Goff, J.L. et al. Mixed heavy metal stress induces global iron starvation response. ISME J 17, 382–392 (2023). 

Goff, J. L., Durrence, K. L., Thorgersen, M. P., Trotter, V. V., Chen, Y., Kosina, S. M., ... & Adams, M. W. (2026). Contrasting effects of glutamate and branched-chain amino acid metabolism on acid tolerance in a Castellaniella isolate from acidic groundwater. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, e01942-25.

Darwiche, L., Rodriguez-Bornot, C. A., Ingrassia, R. A., Loccisano, M. J., Waldschmidt, G., & Goff, J. L. (2025). The molecular basis of the synergistic toxicity of nickel and copper, common environmental co-contaminants. Applied and environmental microbiology, 91(12), e01627-25.

Tellurium is a metalloid that is both an emerging environmental contaminant and a critical element for energy and national defense. Simultaneously, we are seeing unprecedented inputs of tellurium into the environment while easily accessible reserves are also dwindling. It is believed that microorganisms are significant contributors to redox cycling of tellurium in the natural environment; however, direct evidence for these microbially mediated processes is scarce. 

Our work is examining the abiotic and biotic controls on tellurium speciation and mobility in the environment. In addition, we are also interested in understanding controls on the stability of biogenic tellurium nanoparticles, formed by the microbial reduction of tellurium oxyanions to elemental tellurium. We are also working to expand the analytical methods available to quantify, speciate, and image tellurium in complex matrices.

This research is supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.

(A) The role of microorganisms in the reduction of tellurium oxyanions to elemental tellurium. (B) Tellurium K-edge for various samples from Goff, J. L., Wang, Y., Boyanov, M. I., Yu, Q., Kemner, K. M., Fein, J. B., & Yee, N. (2021). Tellurite adsorption onto bacterial surfaces. Environmental science & technology, 55(15), 10378-10386.

We are exploring how how mobile genetic elements (MGEs) shape microbial genome evolution in the ORR subsurface. Movement of MGEs by horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can promote the rapid adaptation of microorganisms to environmental stressors through analysis of both metagenome-assembled MGEs as well as MGEs in the genomes of pure culture isolates from contaminated environments.  Additionally, we are using adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) to experimentally probe mechanisms of genome evolution during environmental stress.  In particular, we are interested in plasmid gene content and stability and the expansion of transposable elements in microbial genomes.  

Plasmids identified in the genome of an isolated representative of a dominant species in a mixed waste contaminated subsurface environment. Goff, J.L. et al. (2022) Ecophysiological and genomic analyses of a representative isolate of highly abundant Bacillus cereus strains in contaminated subsurface sediments. Environmental Microbiology, 24( 11), 5546– 5560. 

Goff, J. L., Lui, L. M., Nielsen, T. N., Poole, F. L., Smith, H. J., Walker, K. F., ... & Adams, M. W. (2024). Mixed waste contamination selects for a mobile genetic element population enriched in multiple heavy metal resistance genes. ISME communications, 4(1), ycae06

Goff, J. L., Szink, E. G., Durrence, K. L., Lui, L. M., Nielsen, T. N., Kuehl, J. V., ... & Adams, M. W. (2024). Genomic and environmental controls on Castellaniella biogeography in an anthropogenically disturbed subsurface. Environmental microbiome, 19(1), 26.

Darwiche, L., & Goff, J. L. (2026). Beyond tellurite: the multifunctional roles of genes annotated as tellurium resistance determinants in bacteria. Critical reviews in microbiology, 52(2), 262-282.

Okyere, I. J., Tiyapun, C., & Goff, J. L. (2026). A comparative, multi-study analysis of plastisphere resistomes, plasmid dynamics, and antibiotic resistance genes. Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, 1-53.

Microplastics aren’t just pollution—they’re floating platforms that can carry other harmful contaminants through the environment. In the Goff Lab, we study how microplastics interact with bacteria, heavy metals, and antibiotic resistance genes in waterways across upstate New York and beyond! 

We’re currently characterizing the microbial communities that colonize microplastic surfaces, including the genomes and plasmids of bacteria that may carry antibiotic resistance genes. Using metagenomic sequencing, we’re uncovering how these plastic-associated biofilms evolve and what risks they pose. 

We’re also investigating how urbanization and extreme weather events that impact upstate New York waterways affect the colonization of microplastics by potentially harmful microbes. In parallel, we’re studying how weathering changes different plastic types, and how that affects their ability to absorb heavy metals, using FTIR and ICP-MS. 

This research helps us understand the broader environmental role of microplastics as vectors for contamination in freshwater systems.

This work is supported in part by the NYS Center of Excellence in Healthy Water Solutions and the NYS Water Resources Institute. 

Okyere, I. J., Tiyapun, C., & Goff, J. L. (2026). A comparative, multi-study analysis of plastisphere resistomes, plasmid dynamics, and antibiotic resistance genes. Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, 1-53.