Ruth E. Richardson

Associate Professor

Primary Research Areas

energy, environment, and sustainable development
environmental engineering

Graduate Fields

Research Focus

In general, my research interests lie in the use of combinations of molecular biology techniques and chemical analyses to understand microbial community structure and behavior and to use this understanding to guide both reactor system design and field-scale treatment operations. Some of the specific research areas I'm pursuing as an Assistant Professor include:

Microbial Ecology and Activity of Communities Performing Bioremediation
Elucidation and Detection of Degradative Enzyme Expression in Mixed Communities
Studying the Role of Microbial Cell-to-cell Communication in Environmental Systems
Investigating the Use of Microbial Communities in Pollution Prevention and Green Manufacturing

Educational Background

Ph.D. - University of California at Berkeley - 2001

Research Grants

MODELING GENE NETWORKS IN DEHALOCOCCOIDES AND DEVELOPMENT OF BIOINDICATOR ASSAYS FOR BIOREMEDIATION OF CHLORINATED SOLVENTS
METAPROTEOMIC COMPARISON OF CHLOROETHENE-DEHALORESPIRING COMMUNITIES
EFFECTS OF MICROBES (MYCOBACTERIAL AND MIXED SPECIES BIOFILMS) ON THE LEACHING OF VINYL CHLORIDE AND ORGANOTIN FROM PVC PIPING USED IN DRINKING WATER DELIVERY
SYSTEMS BIOLOGY OF DEHOLOCOCCOIDES: USING NETWORK INFERENCE MODELING TO INTEGRATE OMICS DATASETS UNDER VARIED CONDITIONS

Selected Publications

PubMed Listings

Peer-reviewed journal articles: published and in-press

Rahm, BG, and RE Richardson. (2008) Dehalococcoides' gene transcripts as quantitative bioindicators of PCE, TCE and cDCE dehalorespiration rates. Accepted by Environmental Science and Technology
Rahm, BG, and RE Richardson. (2008) Correlation of Respiratory Gene Expression Levels and Pseudo-Steady State PCE Respiration Rates in Dehalococcoides ethenogenes. Environmental Science and Technology. 42 (2): 416-421.
Morris, RM, JM Fung, BG Rahm, S Zhang, DL Freedman, SH Zinder, and RE Richardson. (2007) Comparative Proteomics of Dehalococcoides spp. Reveals Strain-Specific Peptides Associated with Activity. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73(1): 320-326.
Morris, RM, S Sowell, D Barofsky, SH Zinder, and RE Richardson. (2006) Transcription and mass-spectroscopic proteomic studies of electron transport oxidoreductases in Dehalococcoides ethenogenes. Environmental Microbiology 8 (9), 1499-1509.
Rahm, BG, RM Morris, and Richardson, RE. (2006) Temporal Expression of Respiratory Genes in an Enrichment Culture Containing Dehalococcoides ethenogenes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72(8): 5486-5491.
Freeborn, RA, VK Bhupathiraju, S Chauhan, KA West, BG Rahm, RE Richardson, and L Alvarez-Cohen. (2005) Phylogenetic Analysis of TCE-Dechlorinating Consortia Enriched on a Variety of Electron Donors. Environmental Science & Technology 39, 8358-8368.
Richardson, RE, CA James, VK Bhupathiraju, and L Alvarez-Cohen. (2002) Microbial Rebound in Soils Following Steam Exposure. Biodegradation. 13: 285-295.
Richardson, RE, VK Bhupathiraju, DL Song, T Goulet, and L Alvarez-Cohen. (2002) Phylogenetic characterization of microbial communities that reductively dechlorinate TCE based upon a combination of molecular techniques. Environmental Science & Technology 36(12): 2652-2662.

Graduate Programs in the Life Sciences