Dr. B.K. Robertson
Professor of Microbiology
Director,  Graduate Programs and EnvironMentors
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Email: brobertson@alasu.edu
Office: (334) 229-4423

 

Profile and Research capabilities/interests

Director of the Graduate Programs (MS and PhD) in biological sciences. Also Director, AGEP-T and EnvironMentors Programs (externally funded programs). Chair of ASU Institutional Biosafety and Coordinator of the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. Currently major advisor of three PhD students and external advisor of 2 Ph.D. students at the University of the West Indies. My current research focuses on (1) fate of toxic chemicals or xenobiotics that are either deliberately or accidentally discharged in the environment (water, soil and sediment). (2) I study diverse population of microorganisms and factors that influence their ability to naturally detoxify xenobiotics including bioremediation of other environmental carcinogens and toxicants, and antibiotic resistance using molecular-based diagnostics tools; (3) my research also focuses on study of the microbiome of human gut and its relevance to environmental health and diseases, and (4) biodiversity of microbes in the Gulf of Mexico surface water via metagenomic analysis.

 

Dr. Robertson  is currently funded has received a one-year $125,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant was made possible through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce) and is designed to expand STEM (science, technology engineering and mathematics) in partner school districts. For more information about this project click here.

 

Selected Research Publications

• Robertson, B. K., Carol Harden, Suresh B. Selvaraju, Suman Pradha, and Jagjit S. Yadav. 2014. Molecular detection, quantification, and toxigenicity profiling of Aeromonas spp. in Source- and Drinking- Water. OPEN Journal of Microbiology 8: 32-39.

• Hongzhuan, W., Jaegersen, K., Robertson, B.K and R. Villafane. 2011. Quantitative PCR as a diagnostic technique in veterinary parasitology, in Wang et al (eds). Bentham Science Publishers

• Robertson, B.K., and Stroot, P. 2007. A new hybrid laboratory course christens a pipeline of biology students from Alabama State University to the University of South FL. AC 2007-2467.

• Robertson, B.K., and Jjemba, P. K. 2005. Enhanced bioavailability of sorbed 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) by a bacterial consortium. Chemosphere 58:263-270.

• Jjemba, P. K., and B.K. Robertson. 2005. Antimicrobial agents with improved clinical efficacy versus persistence in the environment: synthetic 4-quinolone as an example. EcoHealth 2: 171-182.