Tamar Barkay

Biography

Education: B.Sc. School of Agronomy, The Hebrew University, Rehovot; June 1974 (Undergraduate degree in Agronomy, major in Microbiology) M.Sc. Hebrew University, Jerusalem; June 1976 (Master in Environmental Health) Ph.D. The University of Maryland; December 1980 (Major in Microbiology, Minor in Biochemistry) Academic positions Distinguished Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, 2015- Professor present Professor Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, 2007 - 2015 Associate Professor Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, 2003 – 2007 Assistant Professor Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, 1999 - 2003

Research Interest

Microbial transformation of metals Research in my laboratory is focused on the microbial ecology of the interactions of microbes with toxic metals. Specifically, we are looking at microbial transformations of metals and how they affect metal toxicity and accumulation patterns in the environment and at the genetics and physiology of metal resistance and transformations in bacteria. This research supports efforts in bioremediation of metal contaminated environments. One on-going research projects is focused on the role of microbes in the formation and accumulation of methylmercury in aquatic environments. Methylmercury is the most toxic form of mercury that is accumulated and biomagnified in fish and shellfish posing a risk to predators (including humans) that rely on the aquatic food chain for sustenance. A second project examines the role of horizontal gene transfer among bacteria on the spread of mercury and antibiotics resistance genes. Such genetic spread might lead to the formation of antibiotics resistance gene pools in mercury-contaminated environments. Our research relies heavily on the application of molecular tools, such as cloning, gene probing, mRNA transcript analysis, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics, in microbial ecology.