Modeling microbial complexity
Will Harcombe combines experimental and computational models to decode complex microbial interactions.
Mapping uncertainty
Can gene regulatory networks help scientists predict cell behavior and improve therapeutics for cancer and other diseases?
Enzyme advances promise to boost the bioeconomy
Enzyme advances promise to boost the bioeconomy Enzyme technology symposium brings together researchers from North America and Japan working on cutting-edge applications. By Stephanie Xenos Around 85 researchers and industry partners involved in developing new...
Kate Adamala
Assistant Professor
Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development
kadamala@umn.edu
Synthetic cells, Cell-free protein expression, Engineering genetic pathways
Alptekin Aksan
Professor
Mechanical Engineering
aaksan@umn.edu
Biostabilization; bioencapsulation; biotransport; biomechanics
Brett Barney
Associate Professor
Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
bbarney@umn.edu
Biofuels; biofertilizers; biosynthetic pathways
Jannell Bazurto
Assistant Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
jbazurto@umn.edu
Regulatory mechanisms; bacterial physiology; metabolic stress; methylobacterium
Sebastian Behrens
Associate Professor
Civil, Environmental, & Geo-Engineering
sbehrens@umn.edu
Microbial bioremediation; environmental contaminants; resource recovery
Daniel Bond
Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
dbond@umn.edu
Physiology and functional genomics of metal-reducing bacteria; microbial interactions with electrodes
Steven Bowden
Assistant Professor
Food Science and Nutrition
sbowden@umn.edu
Foodborne pathogens; microbial stress responses; bacterial genetics and virulence; functional genomics; bacteriophages
Kyle Costa
Assistant Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
kcosta@umn.edu
Methanogen physiology; microbial metabolism; anaerobic microbiology
Antony Dean
Professor
Ecology, Evolution & Behavior
deanx024@umn.edu
Molecular evolution; enzymology; isopropylmalate dehydrogenase (IDH)
Mark Distefano
Professor
Chemistry
diste001@umn.edu
Protein prenylation; molecular recognition and catalysis in proteins; protein engineering; bioorganic chemistry
Mikael Elias
Associate Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Biophysics
mhelias@umn.edu
Microbial enzymes and systems; bio-remediation; cellular phosphate uptake mechanism
Kathryn Fixen
Assistant Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
kfixen@umn.edu
Redox regulation of metabolism; anoxygenic phototrophs; product formation
Mike Freeman
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Biophysics
mffreema@umn.edu
Natural product biosynthesis; microbial genetics; targeted metagenomics; radical-mediated chemistry
Jeff Gralnick
Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
gralnick@umn.edu
Microbial physiology; synthetic biology; geomicrobiology; Shewanella; bioenergy; bioremediation; biocatalysis
Ben Hackel
Associate Professor
Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
hackel@umn.edu
Protein engineering; molecular diagnostics; targeted therapy; oncology; infectious disease
Trinity Hamilton
Associate Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
trinityh@umn.edu
Microbial photosynthesis; global biogeochemical cycles; microbial ecosystems, ecology, and evolution
Will Harcombe
Associate Professor
Ecology, Evolution & Behavior
harcombe@umn.edu
Cooperation and conflict; eco-evolutionary feedback; microbial communities; microbial interactions; systems biology
Raymond Hozalski
Professor
Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering
hozal001@umn.edu
Bacterial biofilms; environmental engineering and human health; water distribution systems; biologically-active filters for water treatment; biofouling
Bo Hu
Professor
Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
bhu@umn.edu
Bioprocessing technologies; biofuels; biomass utilization; industrial fermentation; waste management and treatment
Wei-Shou Hu
Professor
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
acre@cems.umn.edu
Cell culture technology; tissue engineering; metabolic engineering; quantitative modeling of biological systems
Satoshi Ishii
Associate Professor
Soil, Water, and Climate
ishi0040@umn.edu
Applied microbiology and biotechnology; nitrogen pollution; genomics; metagenomics; meta transcriptomics; high-throughput sequencing; bioinformatics; bioreactors; mathematical modeling
Romas Kazlauskas
Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Biophysics
rjk@umn.edu
Green (sustainable) chemistry; enzyme modeling; enzyme design; enzyme engineering
George Karypis
Professor
Computer Science & Engineering
karypis@umn.edu
Data mining; recommender systems; learning analytics; high-performance computing; chemical informatics; problems in health informatics, information retrieval, bioinformatics, and scientific computing
Alex Khoruts
Professor of Medicine
Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition
khoru001@umn.edu
Microbiota-host interactions; microbiota therapeutics; disease pathogenesis; C. difficile; energy metabolism
Linda Kinkel
Professor
Department of Plant Pathology
kinkel@umn.edu
Epidemiology and ecology of plant diseases; ecology of plant-associated micro-organisms; antibiotic-producing bacteria
Dan Knights
Associate Professor
Computer Science and Engineering
dknights@umn.edu
Model host-microbiome interactions; microbial community patterns that predict and diagnose human diseases; computational microbiology
Tim LaPara
Professor
Civil, Environmental & Geo-Engineering
lapar001@umn.edu
Biological wastewater treatment; wastewater and environmental microbiology; microbial ecology and evolution; antibiotic resistance
Gary Muehlbauer
Professor
Agronomy and Plant Genetics
muehl003@umn.edu
Wheat and barley molecular genetics; Fusarium head blight (FHB); genomics resources in breeding programs; germplasm enhancement; genetic characterization
Chad Myers
Professor
Computer Science & Engineering
chadm@umn.edu
Computational methods to categorize, visualize, and model biological data and systems; machine learning; biological networks
Tom Niehaus
Assistant Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
tniehaus@umn.edu
Metabolic biochemistry; biochemical and genetic techniques; recombinant enzyme assay; metabolomics
Vincent Noireaux
Professor
School of Physics and Astronomy
Cell-free synthetic biology; cell-free gene expression; gene circuits; bacteriophages; synthetic cell systems; biological physics
Paige Novak
Professor
Department of Civil, Environmental, & Geo-Engineering
novak010@umn.edu
Biological transformation of hazardous substances; biodegradation; PCB dechlorinators; dehalorespirers; estrogenic compounds; micropollutants; reactive membrane systems
Christine Salomon
Associate Professor
Center for Drug Design
csalomon@umn.edu
Biological control of plant disease; antibiotic resistance; communication networks among bacterial populations
Cara Santelli
Associate Professor
Earth & Environmental Sciences
santelli@umn.edu
Impact of microbial activity on geological and environmental processes; nutrient biogeochemical cycling; environmental remediation; influence of anthropogenic activity on biogeochemical processes
Casim Sarkar
Associate Professor
Biomedical Engineering
csarkar@umn.edu
Biomolecular engineering; synthetic biology; systems biology; cellular decision making; molecular and cellular therapeutics
Jonathan Schilling
Professor
Plant and Microbial Biology
schillin@umn.edu
Microbial decomposers; biotechnological potential; ecological dynamics; carbon cycling; Earth Systems Models
Claudia Schmidt-Dannert
Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Biophysics
Director, BioTechnology Institute
schmi232@umn.edu
Biosynthetic machinery; sustainable synthesis; multi-enzyme biocatalysis; genetically programmable, self-organizing protein-based functional materials
Burckhard Seelig
Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
seelig@umn.edu
Darwinian molecular evolution; novel protein generation; synthetic biology; origin and evolution of functional proteins; history of the genetic code
Mike Smanski
Associate Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
smanski@umn.edu
Natural product discovery; genome mining; genetic systems engineering
Christopher Staley
Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
cmstaley@umn.edu
Microbiota disruptions; microbial ecology; next-generation sequencing; microbiota-based therapies
Brandy Toner
Professor
Soil, Water, and Climate
toner@umn.edu
Biogeochemistry of metals; partitioning of metals among gas, aqueous, solid, and biological phases in the environment; metals in natural systems
Michael Travisano
Professor
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
travisan@umn.edu
Ecological and evolutionary dynamics; evolutionary genetics; microbial ecology and evolution; yeast speciation
Larry Wackett
Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
wacke003@umn.edu
Biodegradation; bioremediation; biosynthesis of natural products; enzymology; applications of enzymes in industrial processes
Ping Wang
Professor
Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
ping@umn.edu
Enzyme engineering and nano biocatalysis; bioprocessing and bioreactors; biosensors; biodegradation; biofuels and bioenergy; biomass-based chemicals and materials; smart coatings and nano functional materials; carbon capture and conversion
Carrie M. Wilmot
Professor
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
wilmo004@umn.edu
Structural enzymology; natural products; metalloenzymes; macromolecular X-ray crystallography; spectroscopic techniques; kinetics; mass spectrometry