Rebecca Wilkes
Postdoctoral Researcher-Bioengineering
Rebecca.Wilkes@nrel.gov
303-630-5174
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Rebecca Wilkes joined the Synthetic Biology and Bioconversion team as a postdoctoral researcher in June 2022. Her work focuses on microbial valorization of lignin by whole-cell metabolism, improving stress tolerance mechanisms to promote bioproduction, and targeted application of outer membrane vesicles to improve catabolism of aromatic compounds. Prior to starting at NREL, her doctoral research focused on utilizing a multi-omics approach with particular focus on metabolomics and 13C-tracing to investigate carbon flux and regulation of native cellular pathways involved in the catabolism of natural and xenobiotic compounds.
For additional information, see Rebecca A. Wilkes's LinkedIn profile.
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Research Interests
Synthetic biology tools for optimized production of value-added products
Multi-omics analyses of bacterial metabolic pathways
Lignin and waste valorization
Education
Ph.D., Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
M.S., Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
B.A., Biology, Washington and Jefferson College
Professional Experience
Postdoctoral Researcher, NREL (2022–present)
Postdoctoral Scholar, Northwestern University (2021–2022)
Visiting Scholar, Northwestern University (2019–2021)
National Science Foundation REU Fellow, Michigan State University (2015)
National Science Foundation REU Fellow, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (2014)
Featured Work
Complex Regulation in a Comamonas Platform for Diverse Aromatic Carbon Metabolism, Nature Chemical Biology (2023)
Analogous Metabolic Decoupling in Pseudomonas putida and Comamonas testosteroni Implies
Energetic Bypass to Facilitate Gluconeogenic Growth, MBio (2021)
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