Research interests: Metal-microbe interactions, microbial bioremediation, structure and reactivity of biogenic nanoparticles.

Brief Resesearch Description: My research interests are focused on studying ways by which metal-reducing bacteria, in the environment, transform metals and radionuclides into minerals by altering their oxidation state. Metal redox processes can occur biologically/enzymatically and/or abiotically by reactive mineral phases in the environment. I am interested in decoupling these two processes, in the context of metal transformation and probing the end-product of each individual process. Such studies are critical for devising appropriate clean-up strategies for sites contaminated with heavy redox-active metals, where bioremediation is proposed as a potential remediation option. Furthermore, I am also interested in studying the structure and reactivity of biogenic minerals/nanoparticles as a function of their size, composition/stoichiometry and aggregation state.