Our research is at the interface of environmental/medical microbiology and chemistry.  We strive to understand electron transfer processes driven by redox-facile bioactive small molecules, including natural “toxins” and synthetic drugs. These processes play paramount roles in soils and the clinical environment, ranging from regulating microbial physiology and biofilm development with potential human and ecosystem health outcomes, to biogeochemical cycling of many elements, to contaminant dynamics. By taking an interdisciplinary approach, we are currently exploring three thematic areas:

1. (1)Redox-active “antibiotics” in bacterial physiology, pathogenesis, and contaminant dynamics via Fe(III) reduction; 
   

2. (2)Bacterial-fungal interactions via redox-active “toxins”;
   

3. (3)Redox shuttling-facilitated transformations of Hg(II).