Dr. Hecht is the STEM Symposium
Coordinator
and oversees the BioJobs
material
for
Rowan students.
Research interests:
My main laboratory interests are in the application of microbial
genetics techniques to environmental and applied microbiology
questions. All of these projects are very accessible to
undergraduates.
A major focus in the lab right now is on the process
of microbial removal of soluble lead from the environment.
We have been studying mutants of Caulobacter
crescentus that
precipitate lead as Pb9(PO4)6, and are
working to identify the genes involved in carrying out and regulating
the process. This project is being funded by the National Science
Foundation, and includes money for summer student stipends and travel
funds to present at the annual American Society for Microbiology
meeting.
Another important project looks at developing
improved microbial strains for improved bioethanol production.
This
project involves teams of Biology and Chemical Engineering majors
working together over two year periods. Project components
include strain development, toxicological analysis, and fermenter pilot
studies.
If you are an undergraduate student interested in joining up with any
of these projects, you can get in touch with me at hecht@rowan.edu or stop by my office
in SCI 201B.
Publications:
Mire, C.E., J.A. Tourjee, W.F. O'Brien, K.V.
Ramanujachary, and G.B. Hecht.
2004. Lead precipitation by Vibrio
harveyi: Evidence for novel quorum sensing
interactions. Applied &
Environmental Microbiology70: 855-864. Full
text.
Hecht, G.B.,
P.
Mosto, and C.S. Slater (2003). Effectiveness of
an applied microbiology course specifically designed for chemical
engineering majors. Microbiology
Education4:
13-22. Full
text.
Burton, G.J., G.B. Hecht, and A. Newton
(1997). Roles
of the histidine protein kinase PleC in Caulobactermotility and
chemotaxis. Journal of Bacteriology179: 5849-5853.
Full text.
Hecht, G.B.,
and A. Newton (1995).
Identification of a novel
response regulator required for the swarmer-to-stalked-cell transition
in Caulobacter crescentus. Journal of Bacteriology177:
6223-6229. Full text.
Hecht, G.B.,
T. Lane, N. Ohta, J.M. Sommer, and
A. Newton (1995).
An essential single domain response regulator required for normal cell
division and differentiation in Caulobacter
crescentus. EMBO
Journal14:
3915-3924. Abstract.
Lane, T., A. Benson, G.B.
Hecht, G. Burton,
and A. Newton (1995).
Switches and signal transduction networks in the Caulobacter
crescentus
cell cycle. In Signal Transducing
Switches, J.A. Hoch and T.J.
Silhavy,
ed. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC
Newton, A., G.B.
Hecht, T. Lane, and N. Ohta
(1994). Role of
histidine protein kinases and response regulators in cell division and
polar morphogenesis in Caulobacter
crescentus. In Cellular
and
Molecular Biology of Phosphate and Phosphorylated Compounds in
Microorganisms,
A.M. Torriani-Gorini, ed. American Society for Microbiology,
Washington,
DC.
ROWAN
UNIVERSITY 
