Ileana Pérez-Rodríguez, an assistant professor at U. Penn, and Jessica Choi, a postdoctoral associate in Dr. Pérez-Rodríguez’s lab, are the co-authors of a paper published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (doi.org/10.1128/aem.02048-22) which investigates the role of chemosynthetic, thermophilic bacteria in asbestos detoxification. Ileana Pérez-Rodríguez, a Rutgers alumna who obtained her PhD in Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University under the direction of Costantino Vetriani, and Jessica Choi, who obtained her PhD in Microbial Biology at Rutgers under the direction of Nathan Yee, revealed that the activity of chemosynthetic thermophiles induces the release of iron, silicon, and magnesium involved in the toxicity of asbestos minerals. The two chemosynthetic bacteria are: Deferrisoma palaeochoriense, isolated in Dr. Pérez-Rodríguez’s lab from the hydrothermal system of Milos island in Greece; and Thermovibrio ammonificans, isolated in Dr. Vetriani’s Deep-Sea Microbiology Lab from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent. The American Society for Microbiology published a press release here:
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology