Our People

E-mail: laura.camilleri@montana.edu

Research Project:

Optimization of a robust biofilm-biomat reactor for conversion of NASA mission-relevant feedstocks to products.  Fungal mycelial networks form dense biomats with many characteristics that are desirable for making food products.  My research focuses on enhancing the physiology of and understanding phenotypic variations within the biomat.  To better understand the fungal biofilm, I utilize microelectrodes for O₂ profiles, confocal microscopy and other imaging techniques for 3D structures, and HPLC for organic acid detection.

E-mail: stacy.mcgill1@montana.edu

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Research Project:

Dissecting the physiology of clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Concepts of interest: interspecies interactions on metabolic and structural scales, emergent properties of multispecies biofilms, and geometric constraints on metabolic activities.  Using the physiological data that I acquire, in silico genome scale metabolic pathway models can be fine tuned to give better insights into potential treatments of multispecies biofilm infections.

E-mail: adrienne.arnold@montana.edu

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I use metabolic modeling to investigate the effects of cultivation stresses on two types of organisms: methanotrophs and green microalgae. My focus is on the role of carbon storage compounds as energy reserves for use when nutrients are limited.

E-mail: martinadu@montana.edu

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My project involves studying the amino acid economics between mutant strains of Escherichia coli by examining cross feeding within engineered cocultures. Gathering data on the economies of various bacterial consortia can help control growth rates, optimize production, create catalysts, and to understand microbial exchanges in the environment. 

 

E-mail: charlesholcomb@montana.edu

Research Project:

My research involves studying the growth conditions of alkali-tolerant algae for the optimization of lipid production for biofuels. This data will help improve and support an in silico metabolic model of the algae that can be used to guide future experiments.

E-mail: rachel.anderson19@montana.edu

Research Project:

I work underneath PhD candidate Lee McGill, on his project on biofilm antibiotic tolerance. Antibiotic resistance has become widespread, and our hope is to help lay the framework for alternatives to this medical treatment through studying the metabolism of common bacteria found in chronic wounds. By testing microorganisms in simpler systems in the lab, we hope to gain an understanding on the behavior of these microorganisms in much more complicated natural systems.

E-mail: Heejoon.park@montana.edu

Publications

Research Project:

As a Post-doctoral Research Associate in the Dept. of Chemical and biological Engineering, Center for Biofilm Engineering:

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Research Project:

My research is focused in optimize the bioconversion of glycerol to succinic acid by (1) prediction of metabolic engineering targets in E. coli using COBRA models and (2) integrating metabolic modeling and upstream-downstream processing in order to determine the effects of metabolic engineering on downstream processing from an energy, mass, cost perspective. 

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Research Project:

My research examines metabolic pathways via (1) metabolic modeling with resource allocation-based analysis, implemented in a thermophilic cyanobacterial system, and (2) engineering synthetic Escherichia coli consortia to understand metabolic exchange and organic acid detoxification in the context of ecological theory.

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Research Project:

Interspecies interactions can enhance Pseudomonas aeruginosa tolerance to surfaces functionalized with silver nanoparticles (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.111027)

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Research Project:

My projects involve the production of fuels and chemicals from renewable feedstocks by novel fungi and recombinant bacteria. The strategy is to use modeling to identify optimal modifications, genetic engineering to produce the modifications, and culturing techniques/reactor design to influence regulation in favor of metabolic flux toward desired products.

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Research Project:

Thermodynamic analysis of bifurcating hydrogenases

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbabio.2019.148087

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My project also involves alternative fuels and specialty chemicals created by endophytic fungal species. I characterize fungal growth, metabolites and hydrocarbon production in liquid cultures. I am also working on optimizing hydrocarbon production from fungal fermentation in solid state reactors utilizing solid state feed stocks.

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Research Project:

I collaborate with Hans Bernstein to study systems of engineered Escherichia coli mutants, and my goal is to develop theoretical and experimental methods for analyzing the kinetics of acetic acid inhibition in these organisms. A theoretical model of our system is currently under development as a collaborative effort with members of the mathematics department.

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Research Project:

Protein expression of carbon, iron, and nitrogen limited E. coli grown in chemostats at 0.1-0.4/h. Metabolic modeling to compare with proteomic data collected from Chemostat cultures. Construction of Microsoft HPC Cluster for genome scale elementary flux mode calculation.

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Research Project:

Lipid-Derived Biofuels: Determination of factors that control triglyceride accumulation in microalgae.

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Research Project:

I refine, analyze, and experimentally validate network models, focused on the effects of nitrogen-limitation on E. coli metabolism. Previously, my work focused on thermoacidophilic Archaea and thermophilic/phototrophic mat communities.

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Research Project:

Study Ascocoryne sarcoides, an endophytic filamentous fungus which produces volatile hydrocarbons. Evaluate different growth substrates and environmental conditions for growth and hydrocarbon production. Current work includes determining growth and hydrocarbon production on cellulosic substrates using NMR, PTR-MS, HS-SPME GC/MS and HPLC. This project has applications in renewable biofuel production.

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My research focuses on the investigation of natural and engineered microbial communities. Also, numerical modeling of reaction network systems and biofilm reaction/diffusion phenomena. This research has potential applications for bioprocess and environmental engineering.

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Research Project:

Lipid-Derived Biofuels: Determination of factors that control triglyceride accumulation in microalgae.

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Assist Natasha Malette with the Gliocladium roseum project.

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Assisted Hans Bernstein with microbial community engineering and investigation.

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Research Project:

Assist Hans Bernstein with microbial community engineering and investigation.

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Research Project:

In collaboration with Trevor Zuroff's work, I am investigating quorum sensing in Escheria coli k-12, Staphylococcus epidermis, and Staphylococcus aureus by testing various antibiotic challenges, temperatures, and nutritional environments to better understand cell-to-cell communication in biofilms.

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Research Project:

I am examining the effect of quorum sensing gene knockouts of Escherichia coli K-12 biofilm formation, antibiotic resistance, and architecture. Many parameters are being explored including various temperatures, antibiotics, nutritional environments and shear forces. The goal is to gain a better understanding of bacterial cell-cell communication in order to attempt to control behavior. I am also developing and optimizing packed bed reactor systems to be used in biological plastic production using engineered microorganisms.

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