The Biology Department will host a Slice of Life Science Seminar on Wednesday, April 15 from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Lorenz Auditorium.
Ruth Isenberg, Ph.D. will give a presentation titled The Genetics of Staying Power: Bacterial Persistence and Competition in the Oral Cavity.
The description of the presentation includes the following summary. The oral cavity hosts many microbial organisms, including diverse bacterial species. Enterococcus faecalis is a gut bacterium that infects many body sites and has been found in saliva and in infected root canals. Because E. faecalis is found in the oral cavity amongst many other microbes and in substances unique to the mouth, Isenberg’s main research questions focus on how E. faecalis competes and persists within the oral environment.
Dr. Isenberg graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology and then earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is now at University of Minnesota where she is part of the IRACDA (Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award) program to refine both her research and teaching skills.
Dr. Isenberg’s favorite part of the job is interacting with students in the classroom and in the lab. She will continue to follow her passion for teaching and mentoring as a professor at Macalester College starting this fall. Dr. Isenberg was born and raised in the State of Washington, and she was the first in her family to attend college.
The Biology Slice of Life event is an annual event put on by Normandale Community College’s Biology Department.
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