Rachael M Morgan-Kiss

Rachael Morgan-Kiss, an American microbiologist, is chair and the O'Toole Family Professor of the Department of Microbiology at Miami University. She is a Principal Investigator with the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research Project. Her research revolves mainly around how microorganisms are able to survive extremely high stress environments.

Education Kiss earned her B.Sc. in 1995 from the University of Victoria, British Columbia Her PhD research focused on photosynthetic adaptation of a psychrophilic green alga that is found in an ice-covered lake located in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica.

Following these earlier positions Kiss shifted her focus to towards extreme cold environments, laying the foundation for how photosynthetic microorganisms adapt to permanently frozen habitats in a 2006 review. Over the next decade she continued studying survival strategies of Antarctic microorganisms, investigating how they are able to survive long and dark polar nights. In 2015 her research provided key insights into how phytoplankton in permanently ice covered lakes successfully adapt to periods of prolonged darkness, with this line of research culminating in a 2024 study that detailed the exact molecular and biochemical survival strategies used by Antarctic diatoms to endure the polar winter.

Kiss's current research in Antarctica continues to focus on the physiological, molecular, and biochemical processes that allow microorganisms to survive in the uniquely harsh climate of Antarctica. Since Kiss' first expedition to Antarctica as a doctoral student she has completed over 20 years of field research based out of McMurdo Station.

Selected works

Morgan-Kiss, Rachael M., and John E. Cronan. “The Lactococcus Lactis FabF Fatty Acid Synthetic Enzyme Can Functionally Replace Both the FabB and FabF Proteins of Escherichia Coli and the FabH Protein of Lactococcus Lactis.” Archives of Microbiology, vol. 190, no. 4, 4 June 2008, pp. 427–437. Accessed 1 June 2026. Morgan-Kiss, Rachael M., et al. “Adaptation and Acclimation of Photosynthetic Microorganisms to Permanently Cold Environments.” Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, vol. 70, no. 1, Mar. 2006, pp. 222–252. Morgan-Kiss, R. M., et al. “Photoadaptation to the Polar Night by Phytoplankton in a Permanently Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake.” Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 61, no. 1, 23 May 2015, pp. 3–13. Accessed 18 May 2021. Morgan‐Kiss, Rachael. “Long Days and Long Nights: An Integrative Study Reveals Survival Strategies of an Antarctic Diatom during the Cold and Dark Polar Winter.” New Phytologist, vol. 241, no. 5, 13 Jan. 2024, pp. 1885–1887. Accessed 9 May 2025.