Plant and Microbial Biology
College of Biological Sciences
Twin Cities
Award Year
2025
University Award
Distinguished McKnight University Professors
Exploring and Engineering Environmental Metal-Loving Microbes
The Gralnick lab uses classic and modern genetic methods to discover the function of genes in environmental microbes that have novel properties, focusing on metal-breathing and metal-eating bacteria. Exploring this living / non-living interface is not only critical in understanding the environmental cycling of metals but is also the foundation for engineering these microbes for applications in bioenergy, bioremediation and biosensing, and for future applications in bioelectronics and biomanufacturing.