College of Biological Sciences
Twin Cities
Bacteria invented the metabolic strategies that capture the energy released during oxidation and reduction of organic and inorganic compounds. These researchers study bacteria that transfer electrons beyond their cell membranes. This movement of electrons affects water quality and carbon cycling, and represents a direct electrical connection between the interior of a cell and the biosphere. It links the enzymatic precision of life to the electrical and digital worlds.
The Bond group aims to invent new tools able to explore this interface between microbiology and electricity. They study the molecular and genetic basis for this metabolism, and develop strategies that harness these organisms for the synthesis of bioproducts, generation of energy, and design of new bioelectrical sensors. They use MSI resources in four key areas:
- Tn-Seq in model metal reducing bacteria such as Geobacter sulfurreducens and its relatives
- Shotgun genomics and metagenomics of isolates and mixed communities such as the Soudan Iron Mine
- Sequencing and resequencing of novel isolates
- RNA-seq of organisms under different growth conditions