About

Dr. Jeffrey Gralnick is a Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and currently the Director of the Microbial and Plant Genome Institute. He earned his PhD in 2003 in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and was a postdoc at Caltech before starting his own lab at Minnesota in 2005. His research group focuses on modern and classic genetic approaches to understand and engineer electro-active bacteria. He has mentored nearly 70 undergraduates, 13 M.S. / Ph.D. students and 9 postdoctoral researchers. His former students have found successful careers in academia, industry and government. He is an editor for Microbiology (U.K.) and a member of the editorial advisory board for Applied & Environmental Microbiology.

Annette Rowe is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. She received her Phd from Cornell University in Microbiology and Environmental Engineering. She trained as a postdoc at the University of Southern California working with Ken Nealson and Moh El-Naggar. At UC, her research group focuses on the mechanism of microbe-mineral and microbe electrode interactions in diverse microbial systems, with a focus on mineral oxidizing and cathodic processes and the goal applying this understanding to better facilitate CO₂ capture and conversion in both applied and environmental systems.

Dr. Benjamin (Keith) Keitz is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, TX, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley before joining the faculty at UT Austin in 2016. Dr. Keitz is relatively new to MET and his group focuses on applying principles from synthetic biology toward the engineering of EET pathways in model electroactive microbes as well as adapting EET for use in new areas including catalysis, materials synthesis, and sensing. 

Dr. Marika Kokko is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and the head of the Bio and Circular Economy subunit at Tampere University (Finland). She received her PhD in Environmental Biotechnology from Tampere University of Technology in 2013 and worked as a postdoc at University of Freiburg in the laboratory of Sven Kerzenmacher before starting as Associate Professor in Tampere in 2016. In University of Freiburg, she worked with microbial electrolysis cells for treatment of industrial wastewater and prepared catalysts for cathode electrodes. Her current research focuses on utilizing microbial electrochemical technologies in bio and circular economy applications, for example for the recovery and removal of ammonium-nitrogen from wastewaters, conversion of carbon dioxide to chemical commodities or methane via microbial electrosynthesis, and directing mixed and pure culture fermentation towards desired end-products via electro-fermentation.

Dr. Marianna Villano is Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemistry of Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). She earned her PhD in Industrial Chemical Processes in 2011, from the same University. Her journey in the world of Microbial Electrochemical Technologies (MET) started during the PhD, when she also spent six months at the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering of the Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA) in the laboratory of Professor L.T. Angenent. Her main research activity focuses on the treatment and simultaneous valorization of waste and wastewater by means of biological processes, primarily exploiting mixed microbial cultures. These include MET for biogas upgrading, nitrogen removal and recovery, control of the products spectrum during the acidogenic fermentation (i.e., electro-fermentation), as well as the electrosynthesis of valuable products from the reduction of carbon dioxide.

Dr. Shun’ichi Ishii is a researcher at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan, and chairman of the Electromicrobiology Subgroup of the Japan Society of Microbial Ecology. After receiving his Ph.D. in Bioprocess Engineering, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at several research institutes in Japan. He then moved to the U.S. in 2008 to join the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), one of the world’s leading genome research institutes. After 6 years at JCVI, he moved to JAMSTEC in 2015. His current research focus is to elucidate microbial ecophysiologies in bioelectrochemical systems through multi-MetaOmics analysis. Besides the industrial applications of electrogenic and electrotrophic mechanisms of EET-active microbes, he is passionate about the subsurface EET-active microbiome that will play an important role in biogeochemical cycling on Earth.

Dr. Jung Rae KIM is Professor of School of Chemical Engineering at the Pusan National University (PNU), Korea. He received his BS and MS degree in Chemical Engineering at Pusan National University, Korea, and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, USA in 2006 with the thesis of microbial fuel cell. Then he moved into Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC), Faculty of Advanced Technology in University of South Wales, United Kingdom. He conducted UK National EPSRC Supergen Biological fuel cell project as senior research fellow in 2006-2012. In September 2012, He joined the School of Chemical Engineering as a faculty member, and opened Bioenergy and Bioprocess Engineering Lab at PNU. His main research aim is to develop sustainable bioelectrochmical system for bioenergy and useful chemical production. Recently, he has carried out several national and industrial research projects of valorization of C1 gases (CO₂/CO/CH₄), and e-biorefinery for platform chemical productions using bioelectrochemical concept as well as microbial fuel cell. He has published 100 SCI(E) research papers with citing more than 7000 (h-index: 39). 

Dr. Ola M. Gomaa, Professor of Microbial Biotechnology at the Radiation Microbiology Department. She is the Head of Biotechnology Division at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority in Cairo. Her research focuses on the use of microorganisms to solve societal problems. The main areas are water treatment, waste recycling and resource recovery. As a fellow for Newton, Fulbright and Royal Academy of Engineering, she engages innovators in activities to develop their communication, entrepreneurial and time management skills to give back to community and leverage the research output. Through international collaboration and funding, she focuses mainly on electroactive biofilms for bioremediation and as sensors. She serves on several boards for different journals and societies.

Janice Limson holds the DSI/NRF South African Research Chair in Biotechnology Innovation and Engagement and serves as Director of the Biotechnology Innovation Centre (RUBIC) at Rhodes University in South Africa, where she is a Professor of Biotechnology. Her research focuses on the development of products and processes with direct societal impact. This includes the areas of water treatment and bioremediation, and the development of rapid diagnostic tests for healthcare management in remote areas. Through her work as Chair, she studies how direct science engagement with communities regarding research and technology holds multiple benefits for communities, science students, and ultimately for the successful development and deployment of technologies and products. Through UNICEF funding, her research recently has also focused on the generation of aptamers for rapid diagnostic tests. In 2019, she received a National Intellectual Property Management Office award for being amongst the top intellectual property creators in higher education in South Africa. She serves as Associate Editor of IEEE Sensors and serves on several boards.

Dr. Fernanda Lobo is a member of the Hydrogen and Thermal Machines Laboratory, is part the Graduate Program in Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering and the Graduate Program in Renewable Energy at the Federal University of Ceará in Brazil. She is active in the field of MET since 2014, where she started at the University of Colorado Boulder as student of Jason Ren and received her PhD in 2018. The same year she became a professor at the University of Ceará, creating a multidisciplinary group combining the Department of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering that are working with multiple technologies for Bioenergy and Biomass. Fernanda received the award for young scientist in energy solutions area for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries. Due her background in Electrical and Civil Engineering, her work goes through creating new electronic circuits for MET, but more importantly, in understanding the relationship between electrical parameters and electroactive bacteria activity and community, in addition to finding best application for MET in Latin America, driving cost down with new materials and using Brazilian resources that are unique, especially for green hydrogen production.

Dr. Ignacio Vargas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering at The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) (#1 Latin American University Rankings, QS World University Rankings 2023) and Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology and Microbiology at PUC. Currently, he is in charge of the environmental engineering undergraduate program, the Major of Engineering and Environmental Sciences, in the School of Engineering at PUC. His research has focused on studying microbial biofilms, microbial electrochemical technologies, biocorrosion, biogeochemistry, and water reuse (see itvargas.ing.uc.cl).