Romas Kazlauskas

Professor
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics 

PhD, Mechanisms of Organometallic Reactions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

rjk@umn.edu
cbs.umn.edu/contacts/romas-j-kazlauskas/lab

Research Interests

Green (sustainable) chemistry, enzyme modeling, enzyme design, and enzyme engineering.

Bio

Romas Kazlauskas seeks to use enzymatic processes to replace some of the chemical processes that are ubiquitous in the modern world. Choosing biological pathways rather than chemical ones can provide many advantages, such as making reactions faster and more selective, and producing less waste, and through their work, the Kazlauskas lab hopes to create more efficient syntheses that minimize pollution and avoid toxic and non-selective chemical reagents. Outside of his professional work, Romas enjoys hiking, canoeing, and going into nature

DAN KNIGHTS

Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering

PhD, Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder, 2012

dknights@umn.edu
knightslab.org

Research Interests

Model host-microbiome interactions; applied methods to find patterns in microbial communities that predict and diagnose human diseases.

Bio

Dan Knights is a computational microbiologist whose research uses data mining and machine learning to study the microbiome in human disease. He teaches courses on computational techniques used to analyze biological data generated by genome sequencing, proteomics, cell-wide measurements of gene expression changes. Outside of work, Dan is also well-known in the field of speedcubing.

TIMOTHY M. LAPARA

Professor
Department of Civil Engineering

PhD, Environmental Engineering, Purdue University, 1999

lapar001@umn.edu
cse.umn.edu/cege/timothy-m-lapara

Research Interests

Biological wastewater treatment, wastewater microbiology, environmental microbiology, structure-function relationships in mixed microbial communities, microbial ecology, microbial evolution, antibiotic resistance.

Bio

Tim LaPara investigates how infrastructure can protect public health and the environment. His recent work has zeroed in on the most pressing threat to modern medicine—the rise of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Specifically, the LaPara lab seeks to find novel solutions to treat wastewater in a manner that minimizes the development of antibiotic resistance bacteria.

PAIGE NOVAK

Professor
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering
Co-Director, MnDRIVE: Advancing Industry, Conserving Our Environment

PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iowa, 1997

novak010@umn.edu
novak.cege.umn.edu

Research Interests

Biological transformation of hazardous substances in sediment, groundwater, and wastewater. Particular interest in how external environmental factors influence the biodegradation of these substances. Focus on PCB dechlorinators, role of dehalorespirers in the environment, estrogenic compounds in wastewater, micropollutants on microbial communities, and reactive membrane systems.

Bio

Paige Novak specializes in research on the biological transformation of hazardous substances or pollutants. The Novak lab is particularly interested in how external environmental factors influence the biodegradation of these substances or how to enhance biodegradation. Paige works both in the laboratory and in the field, trying to understand the interactions between microorganisms and environmental conditions (such as electron donor concentration and redox conditions).