BNERC Staff & Faculty

The BNERC team is composed of key personnel with diverse expertise from four academic institutions and one industrial partner.

• Dr. Ruanbao Zhou (PI):
  As the Project Investigator and BNERC Director, Dr. Zhou is a Professor of Molecular Microbiology at South Dakota State University (SDSU). He holds a US patent on genetically engineered cyanobacteria and his lab has previously identified and sequenced N₂-fixing cyanobacterial strains from South Dakota. Dr. Zhou leads the overall project and will co-host a collaboration skills workshop for the team.

• Dr. Nick Klein (Co-PI):
  Dr. Klein is from Oglala Lakota College (OLC) and is the Deputy Director for Outreach. He has expertise in indigenous plants, ecosystem health, and sustainable agriculture. Dr. Klein will co-lead the effort to identify N₂-fixers associated with indigenous plants in Thrust Area 1 (TA-1) and is responsible for ensuring the project seeks approval from tribal nations for human-subjects research.

• Dr. Rajesh Sani (Co-PI):
  A Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SD Mines), Dr. Sani is the Deputy Director for Workforce Development. His expertise includes thermophilic bacterial species, molecular biology, and bioprocessing of agri-materials. Dr. Sani has two patents in biotechnology and is involved in bioprospecting for thermophilic N₂-fixing bacteria from extreme environments like Yellowstone National Park. He will also coordinate professional skills workshops for students.

• Dr. Etienne Gnimpieba (Co-PI):
  From the University of South Dakota (USD), Dr. Gnimpieba is a Research Assistant Professor specializing in Computational Biology, AI/ML, Bioinformatics, and Data Science. He leads the use of machine learning for comparative genomic studies to identify critical genes for aerobic N₂-fixation in Thrust Area 1 (TA-1). Dr. Gnimpieba is also responsible for creating a new database for Biological Nitrogen Fixation Research (BNFR).

• Dr. Jaime Gibbons (Co-PI):
  As a Senior Scientist at Houdek Nature, the industrial partner, Dr. Gibbons contributes expertise in the industrial production of plant-based proteins.

• Dr. Govil (Co-PI):
  Dr. Govil works with Dr. Sani to maintain a repository of approximately 800 unique thermophiles and their genomic information. She will also assist in developing a new "N₂-fixation for Biomanufacturing" STEM workbook series for middle school students.

• Dr. Graham (Co-PI):
  Dr. Graham is involved in the bioprospecting of native rhizobia for the competitive colonization of field peas and is a co-leader in this research thrust.

• Dr. Subramanian (Co-PI):
  Dr. Subramanian leads research on the bioprospecting of native rhizobia for the competitive colonization of field peas, in collaboration with Dr. Graham.

• Dr. Nurul Islam:
  Recently hired by SDSU, Dr. Islam is the coordinator of the Mass Spectroscopy Core Facility. He has two decades of experience in mass spectroscopy and will support the center's metabolomics research.

• Dr. Roman Shchepin:
  As a junior faculty member, Dr. Shchepin will be provided with training and mentoring to help him secure early-career awards.

• Dr. Hernandez:
  Dr. Hernandez is the director of the SDSU next-generation genome sequencing facility and will lead the genome sequencing for newly isolated N₂-fixing bacterial strains.