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Elisabetta Bini
Assistant Professor
Rutgers University
Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology
School of Env & Biol Sciences
Lipman Hall. Room 122
76 Lipman Drive
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-0231
(848) 932-5616
FAX - 8965
bini@aesop.rutgers.edu |
Regulation of gene expression in
response to heavy metals exposure by hyperthermophilic archaeal
organisms
The outcomes of our research are
expected to answer important questions: What are the molecular
mechanisms of metal metabolism, the determinants of metal resistance
and the targets of metal toxicity in hot environment? What are and how
are the pathways of metal metabolism regulated at the genetic level?
To answer these questions we employ biochemical and molecular biology
tools in addition to microarray technology to predict functional roles
of unknown genes, characterize proteins and regulatory networks
involved in heavy metals metabolism. Sulfolobus solfataricus, an hyperthermophilic archaeon that lives in acidic hotsprings (pH3. 80°C), with its completely sequenced genome, is our model system.
Another area of interest is the functional genomics analysis of Sulfolobus to discover and characterize genes with roles in the
biodegradation of chemical contaminants.
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