I have various research interests that all lie within the realm of molecular biology, microbiology, and immunology.  If you are interested in hearing more or would like to work with me on a project, please contact me at bmay@csbsju.edu

  • Understanding the microbe Cellulomonas flavigena.  CSB/SJU was successfully admitted into a program to adopt a recently sequenced genome.  This program is sponsored through the Joint Genome Institute and the Department of Energy.  We will be annotating the genome in classes (Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry) and through undergraduate research projects.  We will also initiate some functional analysis of this organism; once genes have been identified, what exactly do they do for Cellulomonas flavigena?  C. flavigena is a microbe that was extracted from the soil and is a potential resource for bioenergy.  It degrades cellulose, one of the basic products of plants into usable resources for energy production.
  • Identification and characterization of microbes in the lakes of the SJU Arboretum.  We have initiated a project in BIOL307 to identify the different microorganisms living in the waters of Lake Sag, Watab, and East Gemini.  All three lakes have differing levels of water quality and we would like to see how this affects the growth of prokaryotes in the differing habitats.  This semester we will also be looking at antibiotic sensitivity to some of the microorganisms to start to answer the question, how much natural antibiotic resistance is present in these non-human habitats.  Students are using molecular tools (16S rRNA) sequencing to identify the microorganisms from the lake environments.
  • Microbes in the Bakery.  A project was established two years ago with Steve Nelson at the Collegeville Artisan Bakery in St. Joe.  Students and I were looking at the effects of pH on the bread baking process and identified several unknown prokaryotic species living in the starter cultures.
  • Strain variation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  I have had several students work with me through the summer research program and the Summer China Exchange program examining strain variation amongst strains of M. tuberculosis extracted from lung and cerebral spinal fluid.  We are looking to determine if there is a variation in bacterial strains that allows M. tuberculosis to move from the lungs into the central nervous system during an infection.  We have been using SNPs to characterize approximately 25 strains from infected patients.