Welcome to the North Lab!
Bacteria are amazing organisms. They have a wealth of metabolic diversity for surviving difficult environmental conditions. My research focuses on how bacteria acquire or recycle needed sulfur from various organic-sulfur compounds that are otherwise a wasted byproduct of cell metabolism. Often such processes intersect with carbon and nitrogen metabolism within the cell, revealing new and interesting reactions and chemistries. The goal is to understand fundamental organic sulfur metabolism in bacteria like pathogens and industrial microbes so that we can apply these discoveries for the benefit of human health and the growing renewable biofuels industry.
– Justin North
North Lab Interests and Areas of Expertise:
Bacterial organic sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen metabolism
Photosynthetic bacteria, Clostridia, and Extraintestinal Pathogenic E. coli
Metabolic pathway discovery and genetic regulation of pathway activity
Protein structure, function, and high-throughput activity screening.
Affiliations:
OSU Department of Microbiology
OSU Biochemistry Program
OSU Center for Applied Plants Sciences
OSU Sustainability Institute