You've probably seen slimy mats of brownish green clinging to rocks in streams or on lake beds, and perhaps not given it another thought. But George Mason University's Rosalina Stancheva Christova has. For more than 20 years, Christova, an assistant professor in the College of Science, has been researching Microcoleus, a common mat-forming cyanobacterium found in streams and lakes worldwide. The troublesome thing about Microcoleus is that some strains pose a risk to human, animal, and aquatic ecosystem health, but others do not.

You’ve probably seen slimy mats of brownish green clinging to rocks in streams or on lake beds, and perhaps not given it another thought. But George Mason University’s Rosalina Stancheva Christova has. For more than 20 years, Christova, an assistant professor in the College of Science, has been researching Microcoleus, a common mat-forming cyanobacterium found in streams and lakes worldwide. The troublesome thing about Microcoleus is that some strains pose a risk to human, animal, and aquatic ecosystem health, but others do not.

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