Microbiology: Faculty and Staff

Micriobiology closeup in lab

A message from the Directors

Microbes are both the cause of and the solution to many of humanity鈥檚 grand challenges in human health, sustainable agriculture, protection of natural environments, cleaning up polluted environments, and engineered systems.

In the coming decades, microbiologists will be critical to understanding the microbes in these systems, controlling them, and putting them to work for us. The Microbiology Graduate Program educates students broadly in microbiology, so that you will be equipped to address any of these grand challenges. Whether you work on nutrient cycles, human disease, or microbial process engineering, you will learn the laboratory, analytical, and bioinformatic tools needed to ask and answer questions of global importance.

When you join the Microbiology Graduate Program (MGP) at 91原创, you join a vibrant community of microbiologists with faculty in 11+ departments across campus, including Biological Sciences, Marine Science and Policy, Earth Sciences, Plant and Soil Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. This breadth gives students access to an extensive range of equipment, collaborators, and expertise. Regardless of the home department and research topic, our goal is to characterize the microbes in different environments 鈥 from the human body to water to soil and sediment 鈥 and understand how they work, so that we can put them to work for us.

Our research takes advantage of our many excellent听, including听,听,听, and听, in which staff help plan projects and either carry out analyses or train students on instruments to gain valuable skills. The MGP hosts the Microbial Symposium in the spring, to bring together microbiologists from across campus and disciplines to share ideas and our latest research. Our student-led EmPOWER (Empathic Peers Offering Wisdom, Encouragement, and Resources)听program is also ready to support you. MGP听EmPOWER鈥檚 activities include a graduate student mentoring network, where senior and first-year students are paired to create a support system for first-year students and provide mentoring opportunities for more senior students.听EmPOWER听hosts de-stressing events (such as movie nights, craft making, and hikes), as well as personal development workshops. Our community is close knit and welcoming, making it easy to develop friendships and collaborations.

Below, we give links to the faculty webpages so you can explore their exciting, transformative research. We encourage you to contact several of interest to you so that you may make connections to potential advisors. The faculty will find it most useful if you include some initial information about yourself and how your interests fit with their research.

Any questions? Please don鈥檛 hesitate to contact us using the 鈥淐ontact the program鈥 button below. We hope you will consider joining us!

Clara Chan


Professor of Earth, Ocean and Environment; Director of Microbiology Graduate Program
 302-831-1819

Nicole Donofrio


Professor of Pathology; Associate Director of Microbiology Graduate Program
 302-831-1372

Wendy Feller


Graduate Services Coordinator
 
Name/ProfileEmailCollegeResearch Focus
Harsh Baishbais@udel.eduCANRPlant microbe interactions and phytochemistry
batish@udel.eduCHSMolecular and cellular cancer biology
Jennifer Biddlejfbiddle@udel.eduCEOESediment microbial metagenomics and biogeochemistry
Sam Biswasbiswassb@udel.eduCHSHuman Papillomavirus family (HPV) induced oncogenesis and mechanism of DNA replication in pathogenic bacteria
blenner@udel.eduCOESynbio, metabolic engineering, functional genomics, microbiome engineering
Fidelma Boydfboyd@udel.eduCASGenomic determinants of host-pathogen interactions in Vibrio
cha@udel.eduCOEMicrobial conversion of food waste to high-value products
Clara Chancschan@udel.eduCEOEFe-oxidizing bacteria and geomicrobiology
pei@udel.eduCOEBioremediation
Nicole Donofriondonof@udel.eduCANRFungal-plant interactions, or fungal-bacterial interactions
Aditya Duttaadidutta@udel.eduCANRGut and reproductive tract microbiome.
Jeff Fuhrmanfuhrmann@udel.eduCANREcology and diversity of nitrogen-fixing microbial populations in soil-plant systems
cgrimes@udel.eduCASChemical glycobiology and innate immunity
tehanson@udel.eduCEOEMicrobial metabolism and ecology. Engineering autotrophic bacteria for production.
Yan Jinyjin@udel.eduCANRMicrobial mediated changes of soil properties and processes; biophysical processes in the rhizosphere
Kalmia Knielkniel@udel.eduCANRMicrobial food safety
Alyssa Koehlerakoehler@udel.eduCANRMolecular and cellular plant-microbe interactions; fungal biology
kunjapur@udel.eduCOEbiological containment of microbes; live bacterial vaccine platforms; bacterial spore display of proteins
khl@udel.eduCOEDevelopment and application of high throughput proteomics
Adam Marshamarsh@udel.eduCEOEEnvironmental genomics and evolutionary signatures in genomic information
Qi Muqimu@udel.eduCANRGenomics and phenomics of plant-pathogen interaction
amarsh@udel.eduCOEHydrogel-based platforms, bioprinting strategies and biofabrication techniques to create structured, dynamic and tunable materials that interface with biology
Ramona Neuneubelneunr@udel.eduCASHost-pathogen interactions in Legionella
epaps@udel.eduCOEClostridial engineering for butanol production
parashar@udel.eduCHSmechanistic basis of critical communication events during bacterial pathogenesis
Mark Parcellsparcells@udel.eduCANRViral genetics and infection
polson@dbi.udel.eduCOE, CEOEMicrobial-viral interactions and bioinformatics
Sharon Rozovskyrozovsky@udel.eduCASSelenoproteins and Se-NMR in structure-function studies
Karl Schmitzschmitzk@udel.eduCASClp proteases from Mycobacterium tuberculosis
angelias@udel.eduCANRMicrobial influences on As accumulation in plants
kvs@udel.eduCOEanaerobic fungi functional genomics
Molly Sutherlandmsuther@udel.eduCASCytochrome c biogenesis in bacteria
Adam Wallaceafw@udel.eduCEOEMicrobial control of mineralization reactions
Mark Warnermwarner@udel.eduCEOECoral-phototroph symbioses and harmful algal blooms
Eric Wommackwommack@dbi.udel.eduCANR, CEOEViral ecology and metagenomics
wuc@udel.eduCOEGenomics
ryanz@udel.eduCOEModeling host-pathogen interactions based in control theory