B.S. in Biochemistry, State University of New York College at Geneseo, 2000

Research

My motivation as a scientist is driven by a concern for human impact on the environment, which ultimately affects human health as well.  In the DuBois lab, research pertaining to environmental health can take many forms.  I am currently studying the obligate aerobe P. mendocina, which was isolated from the DOE’s Nevada Test Site and has a remarkable ability to solubilize iron from minerals.  Radionuclides can easily associate with Fe minerals, so understanding the details of aerobic bacterial mobilization of metals is crucial in preventing future environmental contamination.  In order to obtain insoluble iron, bacteria produce and secrete low-molecular weight molecules called siderophores, which have a very high affinity for ferric iron.  The Fe-siderophore complex is then imported into the cell via a specific receptor, iron is reduced and released, and the siderophore is degraded or recycled.  I am interested in using both molecular tools such as knock-out mutants and biosensor strains, as well as biochemical assays to decipher  the molecular details of this process, ultimately gaining a better understanding of mineral-sorbed toxic heavy metal stability in the presence of aerobic bacteria.

Publications and Presentations

Kemal et al. HIV-1 in genital tract and plasma of women: Compartmentalization of viral sequences, coreceptor usage, and glycosylation, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 October 28; 100(22): 12972–12977.