with a system biology approach
Genomics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the popular budding yeast of the beer and bread world. This famous fungus was the world’s first sequenced eukaryote in 1996. Their genome contained over 12 million base pairs packed into 16 chromosomes, of which one-third are conserved in the human genome.
Yeast genomics is essential for fundamental biological science and advanced biotechnology.
Metabolomics
Metabolism is a fast-changing and quantifiable "snapshot" of an organism's life. Although metabolomics contains a broad number of molecules and compounds, the measurement of specific metabolites can reveal truly amazing signatures of health or process errors.
This metric is highly informative for processes like fermentation or assessment of engineered metabolic pathways.
Toxicity Resistance and Sensitivity
Growth, and by extension toxicity, is fundamental to understanding the cellular response to an environmental condition. Classical genetics was founded around reductionism utilizing growth as the phenotype or metric. The removal of individual genes and the restoration of growth via mutations or alterations is central to determining gene function.
Growth is the first metric many scientists will look to for answers.
Nanotechnology
When the size of particles changes on the nanoscale, you can alter the properties of elements. This is a central theme in nanotechnology and best exemplified by quantum nanodots. These nanodots change their color based on their nanoscale size.
Copper has a unique antimicrobial property and nanocopper has been found to be more potent to microorganisms. Specifically the majority of this project has focused on cellulose derivatives, namely carboxymethyl cellulose copper nanoparticles (CMC-Cu), and their biological function.
Affiliations & alumni
