Luisa Marcelino

Research Assistant Professor

A321 Technological Inst.
2145 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-3109

E-mail address: l-marcelino@northwestern.edu
Phone: (847) 467-4540
Fax: (847) 491-4011
Website: Marcelino Group

Curriculum Vitae:

Education

• BS./MS., University of Lisbon, Portugal, (Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology)
• Ph.D., University of Lisbon, Portugal, degree in absentia through Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (Molecular Biology/Genetics)

Research

Our group works on developing and applying optical and genetic methods to study fundamental aspects of reef-forming corals and their associated algae. We are currently investigating why some reef-forming coral species are resistant to bleaching and/or recover quickly from bleaching while others suffer high mortality after a bleaching episode.

Towards this goal we are developing a two-level approach. First, we are studying specific optical properties of the stony corals to understand the role that the coral's tissue and skeleton play during bleaching. We are collaborating with biomedical engineers at Northwestern to characterize the light transport properties of coral skeleton and tissue for coral species showing resistance and susceptibility to bleaching. Second, we are collaborating with Field Museum scientists to characterize the coral-algae association at the cellular and genetic level to establish indicators of susceptibility to bleaching.

Teaching Activities

• CIV_ENG 361 Environmental Microbiology and Public Health

Selected Publications

• Marcelino L.A., Backman V., Donaldson A., Steadman C., Thompson J, Pacocha S., Lien C., Veneziano D., Lim E., and Polz M.F., Accurate identification of low abundant targets in pools of similar sequences by revealing hidden correlations in oligonucleotide microarray data, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006; 103(37):13629-34.
• Sudo H., Li-Sucholeiki X.-C., Marcelino L.A., Thilly W.G., et al., Mutation of nuclear genes in the bronchial epithelium of smokers and non-smokers, Mutation Res, 2006; 596(1-2):113-1127.
• Thompson J.R., Randa M.A., L.A Marcelino, Tomita-Mitchell A., Lim E., Polz M.F., Diversity and dynamics of a North Atlantic coastal Vibrio community, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2004; 70(7):4103-10.
• Acinas S.G., Marcelino L.A., Klepac-Ceraj V., Polz M.F., Divergence and redundancy of 16s rRNA sequences in genomes with multiple rrn operons J. Bacteriology, 2004; 186 (9): 2629-2635.
• Thompson JR, Marcelino L.A., Polz MF. Heteroduplexes in mixed-template amplifications: formation, consequence and elimination by 'reconditioning PCR". Nucleic Acids Res. 2002; 30(9):2083-8.
• Tomita-Mitchell A., Kat A.G., Marcelino L.A., Li-Sucholeiki X.-C., Griffith J., and Thilly W.G., Mismatch repair deficient human cells: spontaneous and MMNG-induced mutational spectra in the HPRT gene, Mutation Res, 2000; 450:125-38.
• Monteiro C, Marcelino LA, Armour JA et al.,. Molecular methods for the detection of mutations. Teratog Carcinog Mutagen, 2000; 20(6): 357-86.
• Marcelino L.A., and Thilly W.G., Mitochondrial mutagenesis in Human cells and tissues, Mutat Res, 1999; 434,177- 203.
• Li-Sucholeiki X.-C., Khrapko K., Andre P.C., Marcelino L.A., Karger B.L., and Thilly W.G., Applications of constant denaturant capillary electrophoresis/high fidelity polymerase chain reaction to human genetic analysis, Electrophoresis, 1999; 20, 1224-1232.
• Marcelino L.A., Andre P., Krapko K., Coller H.A, Griffith J. and Thilly W.G., Chemically induced mutations in mitochondrial DNA of human cells: mutational spectrum of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, Cancer Res, 1998; 58, 2857-2862.