Curriculum Vitae

Education and Training

1985	A.B. (Chemistry)	Cornell University
1988	S.M. (Chemistry)	Yale University
1992	Ph.D. (Chemistry)	Harvard University
1992–1995	Post-Doctoral Fellow	Harvard University

Brief Bio

As an itinerant organic chemist, I have explored many areas at the interface of Chemistry and Biology. My arrival at ETSU in 2018 came after 13 years as a Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and 10 years in academia before that. This chemical journey of over 30 years has taken me to far-flung corners of the scientific world. For the last 10 years or so, my effort has been focused on biomembranes and signaling pathways in plants. Areas where I’ve been active in the past and maintain interest include radiochemistry, radiochemical imaging, biosecurity, nuclear security, food security, natural products, synthetic biology, protein engineering, metabolomics, surface chemistry, optical manipulation of biological systems and nanomaterials. I can’t resist an interesting idea!

Teaching Philosophy

In teaching, I try to lead students through complex material by encouraging active participation, for example by taking notes and collaborating with classmates on quizzes. By emphasizing fundamental concepts and commonalities, I strive to reduce the burden of memorization and get students to “think like a chemist” so they can assimilate knowledge quickly and independently solve new problems they encounter. To help students focus their study time, I make expectations clear by carefully selecting homework problems, providing old or practice exams as study aids and holding regular review sessions. Finally, I

Courses Taught

CHEM 2010 – Organic Chemistry 1 Lecture

CHEM 2020 – Organic Chemistry 2 Lecture

CHEM 2030 – Environmental Chemistry

CHEM 2031 – Environmental Chemistry Lab

CHEM 4957/5957 -- Special Topics – Spectroscopic Structure Determination

Favorite Thing About ETSU

The students! Each new year, I get to meet a new group of interesting and remarkable students. Their enthusiasm and inquisitive minds motivate and inspire me, keeping me young at heart.

Research

My active research projects are in the areas of biomembranes and signaling pathways in plants. Techniques we use include high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); flash chromatography; gas chromatography (GC); mass spectrometry (MS); infrared (IR), ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis), fluorescence and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies; fluorescence microscopy; and X-ray and neutron scattering.

With biomembranes, my group is focused on structure–function relationships in the plasma membrane of Gram-positive bacteria, typified by Bacillus subtilis. We are particularly interested in how the membrane is impacted by advanced biofuels (such as butanol) and other stressors. Our approach involves a combination of organic synthesis (making bacterial phospholipids), molecular biology (engineering the in-vivo lipidome), in-vitro membrane models prepared with lipids we make or extract from cells, computational modeling and biophysical techniques such as fluorescence, X-ray and neutron scattering.

With plants, we are primarily interested in signaling pathways associated with growth regulation and stress response, with the goal of informing efforts to develop more stress-tolerant plant strains for agriculture and energy. Our primary technique is fluorescence microscopy, which we perform with a home-built, fiber-optic microscope that allows us to image plants non-destructively. In recent work performed in collaboration with Dr. Jean Greenberg (University of Chicago) and Dr. Jenny Morrell-Falvey (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), we have been studying the fate of the peptide hormone phytosulfokine (PSK) in plants. For this work, we use fluorescently tagged PSK molecules, which we deliver into the plant in various ways and observe with the microscope. After delivery, we analyze recovered peptide by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to assess its integrity.

Selected Publications

For a complete list, see my C.V. or follow the links below for Where to Find Me on the Web.

1. Scott, H. L.; Burns-Casamayor, V.; Dixson, A. C.; Standaert, R. F.; Stanley, C. B.; Stingaciu, L.-R.; Carrillo, J.-M. Y.; Sumpter, B. G.; Katsaras, J.; Qiang, W.; Heberle, F. A.; Mertz, B.; Ashkar, R.; Barrera, F. N. Neutron Spin Echo Shows pHLIP Is Capable of Retarding Membrane Thickness Fluctuations. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, Biomembr. 2024, 1866 (7), 184349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2024.184349.
2. Qian, S.; Nagy, G.; Zolnierczuk, P.; Mamontov, E.; Standaert, R. Nonstereotypical Distribution and Effect of Ergosterol in Lipid Membranes. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2024, 15 (17), 4745–4752. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c00385.
3. Morgan, J. M.; Jelenska, J.; Hensley, D. K.; Li, P.; Srijanto, B. R.; Retterer, S. T.; Standaert, R. F.; Morrell-Falvey, J. L.; Greenberg, J. T. Using Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanofiber Arrays on Rigid or Flexible Substrates for Delivery of Biomolecules and Dyes to Plants. J. Visualized Exp. 2023, e65602. https://doi.org/10.3791/65602.
4. Morgan, J. M.; Jelenska, J.; Hensley, D.; Retterer, S. T.; Morrell-Falvey, J. L.; Standaert, R. F.; Greenberg, J. T. An Efficient and Broadly Applicable Method for Transient Transformation of Plants Using Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanofiber Arrays. Front. Plant Sci. 2022, 13, 1051340. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1051340.
5. Nickels, J. D.; Poudel, S.; Chatterjee, S.; Farmer, A.; Cordner, D.; Campagna, S. R.; Giannone, R. J.; Hettich, R. L.; Myles, D. A. A.; Standaert, R. F.; Katsaras, J.; Elkins, J. G. Impact of Fatty-Acid Labeling of Bacillus subtilis Membranes on the Cellular Lipidome and Proteome. Front. Microbiol. 2020, 11, 914. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00914.
6. Garcia, D. C.; Cheng, X.; Land, M. L.; Standaert, R. F.; Morrell-Falvey, J. L.; Doktycz, M. J. Computationally Guided Discovery and Experimental Validation of Indole-3-Acetic Acid Synthesis Pathways. ACS Chem. Biol. 2019, 14 (12), 2867–2875. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.9b00725.

Where to Find Me on the Web

ORCID:

LinkedIn

ResearchGate

PubMed

Google Scholar

Hobbies and Interests

I like being outdoors (walking or cycling), watching movies and TV series with my family, hanging with my dogs, attempting to play guitar and all aspects of home improvement. I am always entertained by a good pun or conspiracy theory.