Assistant Professor
Suffolk University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
B.S., Biochemistry, University of Dayton, Ohio
Ph.D., Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Madison-Wisconsin
E-mail: mberkmen <at> suffolk <dot> edu
Melanie Barker Berkmen first became involved in Graham Walker’s original HHMI Education Group in 2002 while she was a Jane Coffin Child post-doctoral fellow in Professor Alan Grossman’s lab in the MIT Department of Biology. In 2007, Melanie became an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Suffolk University where she teaches biochemistry and mentors undergraduate research. Her research focuses on investigating the function and localization of a putative ATPase component of the Bacillus subtilis mating machinery. She has greatly enjoyed learning about new educational initiatives through attending the HHMI Education Group meetings and seminars.
Related websites:
Dr. Berkmen’s OpenWetWare Site
URL: http://openwetware.org/wiki/Berkmen
Selected publications:
Babic A, Berkmen MB, Lee CA, Grossman AD. (2011) Efficient gene transfer in bacterial cell chains. Mbio, 2(2): e00027-11. View PDF
Berkmen MB, Lee CA, Loveday EK, Grossman AD. (2010) Polar positioning of a conjugation protein from the integrative and conjugative element ICEBs1 of Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol, 192(1):38-45. View PDF
Wang JD, Berkmen MB, Grossman AD. (2007) Genome-wide co-orientation of replication and transcription reduces adverse effects on replication in Bacillus subtilis, PNAS, 104(13): 5608-5613. View PDF
Berkmen MB and Grossman AD. (2007) Subcellular positioning of the origin region of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome is independent of sequences within oriC, the site of replication initiation, and the replication initiator DnaA. Mol Microbiol, 63(1): 150-165.
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