Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Mikael Elias
Associate Professor, BMBB/BTI
Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUGS)
mhelias@umn.edu
Ph.D., Aix-Marseille University, France, 2009
FEBS Fellow (2010), Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Marie Curie Fellow (2012), Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Lab Members
Sudipta Shaw
Postdoctoral associate, Ph.D.
Research Interests: I am studying the remarkable ability of bacterial phosphate binding proteins to discriminate between phosphate and arsenate at molecular level. The two anions are very similar in terms of their physical and chemical properties and the ability to differentiate them is a major survival strategy used by several bacteria in phosphate limiting and arsenate rich environments. I am using a combination of molecular biology, X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy to unravel the secrets of these essential bacterial proteins.
Rakesh Sikdar
Postdoctoral associate, Ph.D.
Research Interests: My research interests are focused on bacterial signalling mechanisms associated with virulence and pathogenesis. I am presently studying the effect of quorum quenching lactonases on bacterial virulence using Caenorhabditis elegans infection models.
Siqian Huang
Postdoctoral associate, Ph.D.
Research Interests: My research interest is in environmental microbiology, applied biotechnology in water treatment, bioremediation, and biofouling control. My current research is focused on developing anti-biofouling and biocorrosion coatings with embedded quorum quenching lactonase enzymes.
Mai Beauclaire
Graduate student
Research Interests: My research focuses on the effects of signal disruption by lactonases in complex and mixed microbial communities. I am currently studying how the substrate preference of the engineered lactonases changes microbial communities, and how bacteria respond to different chemical signaling molecules.
Amir Shimon
Postdoctoral fellow, Ph.D.
Research Interests: coming soon.
Kitty Sompiyachoke
Graduate Student
Research Interests: I am interested in applied enzymology, microbial ecology, and biotechnology. I am currently working on characterizing the different classes of enzymes that are able to degrade bacterial signalling molecules and investigating their effects on single species cultures of pathogenic bacteria and in heterogeneous bacterial communities. Ultimately, my goal is to understand and exploit the mechanisms of quorum quenching for bacterial control.
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Jo Bravo
Graduate Student
Research Interests: Coming soon.
Elias lab (summer 2018)
1st row, left to right: Mikael Elias, Ryan Martinmaki, Isabel Larus, Maria Ron Vargas, Sol Choi, Sudipta Shaw.
2nd row, left to right: Anthony Jenks, Sara Engemann, Qian Zhang, Celine Bergonzi.
Elias lab (summer 2021)
left to right: Sudipta Shaw, Reed Jacobson, Kathleen Mahan, Amir Shimon, Kitty Sompiyachoke, Mai Beauclaire, Jo Bravo, Mikael Elias.
Past Members
2020-2021
Kathleen Mahan
MD, pulmonary specialist, faculty
Nathan Hoekstra
Master student
2019-2020
Isabel Larus
undergraduate student
Bryan Doeden
undergraduate student
Ryan Martinmaki
undergraduate student
Sara Engemann
undergraduate student
2018-2019
Celine Bergonzi
Postdoctoral fellow, graduate student
Prof. Joshua Mylne
Fulbright Scholar
University of Western Australia
2017-2018
Abby Sarne
Graduate student
Tanushree Naik
scholar
Ryoya Tanahashi
Visiting scholar
Maria Ron Vargas
Undergraduate student
Olfa Khelifi
Visiting scholar
Sol Choi
Rotation Graduate student
Judee Sharon
Rotation Graduate student
2016-2017
Shannon Moskowitz
Undergraduate student
Louis Hey
Undergraduate student
Sriya Byrapuneni
Undergraduate student
Jacob LaMirande
Undergraduate student
Vanessa Pegos
Scholar
Michael Schwab
Researcher III