Micaela G. Chacón

The paper develops a method to screen plasmid host range using auxotrophic donors, finding that donor identity affects conjugation success in environmental soil bacteria.

The paper demonstrates the use of an engineered environmental plasmid to enable terephthalate degradation in soil by transferring synthetic genes to resident bacteria.

The paper uses a design of experiments approach to engineer and optimize a TphR-based biosensor for terephthalate detection, improving its dynamic range, sensitivity, and signal output.

This paper demonstrates the use of engineered Pseudomonas putida to efficiently co-utilize complex, heterogeneous waste streams for bio-product synthesis, showing climate and economic benefits over conventional waste treatment.