Cindy H Nakatsu

Professor of Agronomy

Department: Agronomy
Phone: 765.496.2997
Fax: 765.496.2926
Office: Lilly 3-359
E-mail: cnakatsu@purdue.edu

Area of Expertise: Microbial Ecology

Current Research Projects:

Impact of anthropogenic factors on microbial community structure
Source tracking and genetic fingerprinting of E. coli collected from the environment.
Biochemical and genetic basis of metal (Cr and Pb) resistance by bacteria
Biochemical and genetic basis of hydrocarbon degradation by bacteria
Development of quantitative PCR methods for monitoring bioattenuation of BTEX
Environmental factors influencing gene transfer.
Microbial ecology of wastewater treatment

Teaching:
Agronomy 649 - Molecular Microbial Ecology
Agronomy 349 - Soil Ecology

K-12
Bob the Bacterium

Interdisciplinary Programs:
ESEI
PULSe

Awards and Honors:
Purdue University Faculty Research Scholar, 2002-07
AIST Foreign Researcher Invitation Award, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, 1996 and 2001
Sustainable Agriculture Travel Award, OECD, 1997
Dow Elanco's Young Investigator's Award, Dow Elanco, 1995
Carleton University Scholarship, 1989-92
Ontario Postgrad Scholarship, 1991-92
NSERC Postgrad Scholarship, 1989-91

Education:
B.Sc., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
M.Sc., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Ph.D., Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Date joined staff: August 1995

Full list of Publications

- Recent Publications

Lasrado, J. A., M. Stewart, J. Slavin, D. A. Savaiano, & C. H. Nakatsu (2008). Effect of resistant starch on the Bifidobacterial community of healthy adults. FASEB J, 896.4.

Franz, B., J. A. Lasrado, D. A. Savaiano, & C. H. Nakatsu (2008). The effect of soy supplementation on human gut microflora community in post-menopausal women. FASEB J.

Baldwin, B., C. H. Nakatsu, J. Nebe, L. Nies, G. Wickham, & C. Parks (2008). Enumeration of aromatic oxygenase genes to evaluate biodegradation during multi-phase extraction at a gasoline-contaminated site. Journal of Hazardous Materials, doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.07.002. http://doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2008.07.002

Jerke, K., C. H. Nakatsu, V. Beasley, & A. Konopka (2008). Comparative analysis of eight Arthrobacter plasmids. Plasmid, 59, 73-85.

Baldwin, B., L. Nies, & C. H. Nakatsu (2008). Detection and enumeration of aromatic oxygenase genes at gasoline-contaminated sites by real-time PCR. Water Research, 42, 723-731.

Park, J., C. Ackerman, C. H. Nakatsu, & J. K. Ghosh (2007). Selection of binary variables and classification by boosting. Communication in statistics simulation and computation.

Nakatsu, C. H. (2007). Community dynamics and heterogeneities in mixed bacterial communities subjected to nutrient periodicities. Environmental Microbiology.

Becker, J. M., C. H. Nakatsu, R. Turco, & A. Konopka (2007). Low nutrient fluxes result in high cultivation efficiencies of soil bacteria. Environmental Microbiology.

Nakatsu, C. H. (2007). The basics and application of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis for soil microbial community analysis. Soil Sci. Soc. J. Am., 71(2).

Vargha, M., Z. Takáts, A. Konopka, & C. H. Nakatsu (2006). Optimization of MALDI-TOF MS for strain level differentiation of Arthrobacter isolates. J. Microbiol. Meth., 6(3), 399-409.