Current Projects

EBME is looking for Post-doctoral researchers:

  • JOB OPENING –  Dr. Paul Falkowski lab will sponsor post-doctoral research fellowships in basic fields of research in primary photochemistry of photosynthesis, biogeochemistry, and molecular evolution of life. The post-doctoral fellowships are for up to three years and will be funded at $55,000 per year with benefits. Contact Dr. Falkowski at falko@marine.rutgers.edu for more information.

News:

“Corals Carefully Organize Proteins to Form Rock-Hard Skeletons” – Scientists’ findings suggest corals will withstand climate change.  Read the complete article in Rutgers Today

“Scientists Discover Key Factors in How Some Algae Harness Solar Energy” – Rutgers-led research could help lead to more efficient and affordable algal biofuels. Read the complete article in Rutgers Today

“Rutgers Researchers Identify the Origins of Metabolism” – Scientists insert synthesized, primordial protein into living cells. Read the complete article on SEBS/NJAES Newsroom.

“Minimal hetereochiral de novo designed 4Fe-4S binding peptide capable of robust electron transfer” paper has been featured in: Forbes (link), Science Daily (link), Astrobiology Magazine (link)

“Life on Mars?  Rutgers professor breaks down NASA’s most recent discovery”

A Martian dust storm is currently silencing NASA’s Opportunity rover. But NASA’s rovers have already found evidence on the Red Planet of ancient organic material, methane and a bacteria that can turn light into fuel and release oxygen. Could it one day help humans colonize Mars? That’s what an international team of scientists is suggesting. Rutgers scientist Professor Paul Falkowski shared some of his insights with Correspondent Leah Mishkin.

“Legos of Life”

Rutgers scientists have found the “Legos of life” – four core chemical structures that can be stacked together to build the myriad proteins inside every organism – after smashing and dissecting nearly 10,000 proteins to understand their component parts.

The four building blocks make energy available for humans and all other living organisms, according to a study published online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study’s findings could lead to applications of these stackable, organic building blocks for biomedical engineering and therapeutic proteins and the development of safer, more efficient industrial and energy catalysts – proteins and enzymes that, like tireless robots, can repeatedly carry out chemical reactions and transfer energy to perform tasks.

“Understanding these parts and how they are connected to each other within the existing proteins could help us understand how to design new catalysts that could potentially split water, fix nitrogen or do other things that are really important for society,” said Paul G. Falkowski, study co-author and a distinguished professor who leads the Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Laboratory at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. 

Goldschmidt 2017 Conference Plenary by Dr. Paul G. Falkowski:

“How Corals Make Rocks”

Science and New York Times article and video highlighting current research showing precipitation of calcium in corals even in low pH ocean waters: