Microbial Biology Graduate Faculty

Tamar Barkay, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Maryland
Role of microorganisms in transformations of metals in the environment

William J. Belden, Associate Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Dartmouth
Chromatin-remodeling; Circadian rhythms; non-coding RNA

Joan W. Bennett, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. Chicago
Genetics and biosynthesis of fungal natural products; fungal genomics; fungal volatile organic compounds

Debashish Bhattacharya, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Simon Fraser (Canada)
Algal evolution; genomics; endosymbiosis; red tides; plastids; tree of life

Kay D. Bidle, Professor of Marine & Coastal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. California (San Diego)
Marine microbiology; microbial physiology and mortality; virology; gene expression; molecular ecology and evolution

Martin Blaser, Professor of Medicine and Microbiology, RWJMS; M.D. New York University School of Medicine
Human microbiome and biology of bacterial persistence in mammalian hosts

Jeffrey M. Boyd, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Utah State
Microbial biochemistry and molecular genetics; biofilm formation and disassembly, metal ion homeostasis, iron-sulfur protein maturation, and Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis.

Yana Bromberg, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Columbia
Bioinformatics approaches to protein function prediction and genome variation analysis

Sara Campbell, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health, SAS; Ph.D. Florida State
Exercise, cholesterol metabolism, obesity, functional foods and chronic disease

George M. Carman, Board of Governors Professor and Distinguished Professor of Food Science, SEBS; Ph.D. Massachusetts
Biochemistry, molecular genetics, and metabolism of membrane lipids

Theodore Chase, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. California (Berkeley)
Alcohol dehydrogenases and pyruvate decarboxylases; enzymology

Michael Chikindas, Professor of Food Science, SEBS; Ph.D. Institute of Genetics and Selection of Industrial Microorganisms (Russia)
Microbiology; genetics; biotechnology; probiotics; antimicrobial peptides

Bruce B. Clarke, Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Director, Center for Turfgrass Science; Ph.D. Rutgers
Turfgrass pathology; soilborne diseases; disease forecasting and control; mycology

Lori Covey, Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, SAS; Ph.D. Columbia
Human immunoglobulin switch recombination in response to T cell-B cell interactions

Katherine Dawson, Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University
Geosciences/Biogeochemistry

John Dighton, Professor of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources, SEBS; Professor of Biology, Camden; Director of the Pinelands Field Station; Ph.D. London (UK)
Role of fungi in nutrient dynamics in forest soils and impacts of pollution

G. Charles Dismukes, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, SAS; Ph.D. Wisconsin
Biological and chemical methods for renewable solar-based fuel production, catalysis, photosynthesis, metals in biological systems and tools for investigating these systems

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Human microbiome structure and function, early development and health, and effect of perturbations by common urban practices

Siobain Duffy, Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources, SEBS; Ph.D. Yale
Emerging viruses; experimental evolution; bioinformatics

Richard H. Ebright, Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, SAS; Ph.D. Harvard
Mechanism and regulation of bacterial transcription; small-molecule inhibitors of bacterial transcription

Douglas E. Eveleigh, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Exeter (UK)
Microbial ecology; biomass recycling; microbial history (antibiotics)

Nicole Fahrenfeld, Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, SoE; Ph.D. Virginia Tech
Pathogens, antibiotic resistance, microbial source tracking, water and wastewater treatment

Huizhou Fan, Professor of Pharmacology, RWJMS; Ph.D. University of Manitoba, Canada
Chlamydial biology with emphasis on host-microbial interaction and development of antiinfectives

Donna E. Fennell, Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Cornell
Microbial processes for bioremediation and waste management

Dina Fonseca, Professor of Entomology, SEBS; Ph.D. Pennsylvania
Infectious diseases; mosquito control; evolutionary ecology

Robert M. Goodman, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources, SEBS, and Executive Dean, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; Ph.D. Cornell
Diversity and function of microorganisms in natural environments

Max M. Häggblom, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Helsinki (Finland)
Environmental microbiology and microbial ecology; biodegradation and bioremediation

Bradley I. Hillman, Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Director for Research and Senior Associate Director, NJAES; Ph.D. California (Berkeley)
Molecular, population, and evolutionary biology of viruses and fungi

Peter C. Kahn, Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Columbia
Protein folding and subunit assembly; structure modeling; ligand interactions; hydration in biological systems

Lee Kerkhof, Professor of Marine & Coastal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. California (San Diego)
Marine microbiology; molecular ecology; microbial population dynamics

Eric Klein, Assistant Professor of Biology, Camden; Ph.D. Pennsylvania
Bacterial pathogenesis and microbial adhesion

Donald Y. Kobayashi, Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. California (Riverside)
Plant bacteriology; host-pathogen interactions; molecular biology

Jerome J. Kukor, Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS, and Dean, Graduate School New Brunswick; Ph.D. Michigan
Biochemistry and genetics of microorganisms involved in biodegradation

Arek Kulczyk, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. University of Cambridge, UK
Cryo-EM structure determination and single-molecule studies of cancer-associated protein targets involved in synthesis and repair of human mitochondrial DNA. Development of novel correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) methods.

Adam Kustka, Associate Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Newark; Ph.D. Stony Brook
Phytoplankton trace metal physiology and biogeochemistry

Eric Lam, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. California (Berkeley)
Programmed cell death; stress tolerance; microbe association with duckweeds

Kwangwon Lee, Associate Professor of Biology, Camden; Ph.D. Texas A&M
Circadian clock/light regulation; fungal genetics; fungal ecology; systems biology

Thomas Leustek, Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. Rutgers
Molecular biology and biochemistry of sulfur and amino acid metabolism in microorganisms

Desmond Lun, Professor of Computer Science, Camden; Ph.D. MIT
Synthetic biology; systems biology; biological signal processing; network science

Gediminas Mainelis, Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Cincinnati
Biological aerosols

Karl Matthews, Professor of Food Science, SEBS; Ph.D. Kentucky
Genetic understanding of virulence and survival mechanisms of food-borne pathogens

Kenneth McKeever, Professor of Animal Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Arizona
Equine exercise and environmental physiology; neuroendocrine control of cardio-renal function

Joachim W. Messing, Distinguished University Professor of Molecular Biology and Director of the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, SAS; Ph.D. Munich (Germany)
M13 cloning, sequencing, and gene synthesis; molecular biology of higher plants

Peter J. Morin, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Evolution, & Natural Resources, SEBS; Ph.D. Duke
Community ecology; Microbial ecology

Bryce E. Nickels, Professor of Genetics, SAS; Ph.D. Harvard
Mechanisms of transcription; regulation of bacterial gene expression

Robert A. Niederman, Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, SAS; Ph.D. Illinois
Structure, function, and assembly of energy-transducing membranes

Peter Oudemans, Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. California (Riverside)
Fungal plant diseases; population biology of fungi

John R. Reinfelder, Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Stony Brook
Trace element cycling and bioavailability; inorganic carbon acquisition in marine phytoplankton

Diana E. Roopchand, Assistant Professor of Food Science, SEBS; Ph.D. McGill University
Interactions between dietary components, gut microbiota, and intestinal epithelium

Jeffra K. Schaefer, Assistant Research Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Rutgers
Microbial biogeochemistry of toxic and essential trace metals; microbial ecology

Donald W. Schaffner, Distinguished Professor of Food Science, SEBS; Ph.D. Georgia
Predictive food microbiology; quantitative microbial risk assessment

Konstantin Severinov, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SAS; Ph.D. Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Genetic and biochemical analysis of RNA polymerases from E. coli and yeast; site-directed modification of proteins

Ann M. Stock, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D. California (Berkeley)
Bacterial signal transduction: protein structure/function and system design principles

Judith Storch, Distinguished Professor of Nutritional Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Columbia
Cellular lipid transport, structure and function of lipid transport proteins, intestinal lipid transport and systemic energy metabolism

Paul Takhistov, Associate Professor of Food Science, SEBS. Ph.D. Notre Dame
Understanding the physico-chemical interactions between multiphase matrices with biotic and abiotic materials

Kimberlee Thamatrakoln, Associate Research Professor of Marine & Coastal Sciences, SEBS. Ph.D. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California (San Diego)
Phytoplankton molecular ecophysiology; host-virus interactions; molecular and biochemical basis for environmental sensing

Alvaro Toledo, Assistant Professor of Entomology, SEBS. Ph.D. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Molecular, biochemical, and microbiological analysis of tick borne pathogens with a focus on Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)

Nilgun E. Tumer, Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. Purdue
Molecular biology of plant viruses; virus replication; disease resistance; plant transformation

Andrew K. Vershon, Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, SAS; Ph.D. MIT
Regulation of gene expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Costantino Vetriani, Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D.; Rome La Sapienza (Italy)
Deep-sea microbiology; extremophiles; molecular ecology; adaptations to extreme environments

James White, Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. Texas
Fungal systematics; ecology of fungi; fungal-plant symbioses

Lori A. White, Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology; Ph.D. Dartmouth
Molecular mechanisms of xenobiotic-induced pathologies

Nancy A. Woychik, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, RWJMS; Ph.D. Wisconsin
Non-coding RNAs and disease; bacterial pathogenesis

Nathan Yee, Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Notre Dame
Geomicrobiology and geochemistry

Lily Y. Young, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Sciences, SEBS; Ph.D. Harvard
Anaerobic microbial metabolism of contaminant chemicals; microbial biodegradation; bioremediation

Ning Zhang, Associate Professor of Plant Biology, SEBS; Ph.D. Louisiana State
Fungal evolution, biodiversity and genomics; molecular detection of fungal pathogens on grass

Liping Zhao, Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Nanjing Agricultural University
Gut microbiota in human nutrition and health

Gerben Zylstra, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Microbiology, SEBS; Ph.D. Michigan
Molecular and biochemical analysis of biodegradation pathways