Using an NMR-based metabolomics approach to understand physiological adaptation to environmental stress such as osmotic shock
Characterizing various promoter systems for tunable gene expression
Investigating the structure and function of Pd630_LPD07118, a putative fluoroacetate dehalogenase.
Collaboration with Dr. Taichi Takasuka at Hokkaido University
As a postdoctoral researcher I shifted my training to synthetic biology. The field of synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary science that combines various aspects of biochemistry, biotechnology, molecular biology, and engineering. During this period I conducted research at the University of Minnesota with Dr. Claudia Schmidt-Dannert and at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (東京農工大学) with Dr. Koji Sode. My projects have included 1) development of a cell-cell communication system using quorum sensing molecules (manuscript in preparation); 2) improved regulation of protein translation in the cyanobacteria Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (Sakai et al., 2015); 3) development of a BioBrick™ compatible plasmid for Rhodococcus opacus PD630 (Ellinger & Schmidt-Dannert, 2017).
I conducted my graduate studies with Dr. John Markley at the University of Wisconsin and the National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison. During this time my research efforts focused on the development and application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) metabolomics techniques. My research focused on two areas 1) developing a workflow for sample preparation (Ellinger et al., 2012), data collection (Clos et al., 2013), and data analysis (Chylla et al., 2011) to improve productivity when working with many samples; 2) using NMR-based metabolomics to evaluate biological samples in a variety of applications such as erythrocyte metabolism (Ellinger at al., 2011), microbial biofuel production (Schwalbach et al., 2012), and response to osmotic shock in E. coli (Murdock et al., 2014).