Applied Microbiology

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor, Center of Marine Biotechnology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute

EDUCATION:
PhD, Anaerobic Microbiology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University, 1984

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya represent the three primary phylogenetic lineages that diverged and evolved from a common progenote. The controlled expression of gene products involved in methanogenesis is essential for complete biomass conversion and bioremediation in anaerobic sediments, however, the mechanisms of catabolic gene regulation in the third lineage, the Archaea, is not yet known. Our goal is use genetic approaches combined with genomics and proteomics to determine whether gene expression in the Archaea functions by mechanisms that are analogous to the other two lineages, Bacteria and Eucarya, or by mechanisms that are unique to this phylogenetic line. Regardless of which mechanism(s) is revealed by this investigation, the results will provide further insight into the global molecular strategies of gene regulation. This research is divided into three projects:
1) mechanisms of gene transcription;
2) global regulatory pathways for methanogenesis;
3) bioprocess scale-up of archaeal proteins.

MEMBERSHIPS/AWARDS:
Member-Society for Industrial Microbiology
Member-American Society for the Advancement of Science
Member-American Society for Microbiology

He has presented his research at over 100 scientific meetings and over 60 national and international invited lectures. His research has generated over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, 20 book chapters, and two patents and has been featured in radio interviews, newspaper articles and museum exhibits. He is a member of ASM and SIM, has been an editorial board member for the Journal of Bacteriology and Archaea and served as a reviewer internationally for over 12 granting agencies and 20 journals.