Rosemary Eufemio (Ph.D. Candidate) along with her advisor Dr. Konrad Meister (BMOL Faculty) recently published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry on how polyols, which are common biodegradable sugar alcohols, effect bacterial ice nucleation. The process of ice nucleation is a unique property for bacteria, such as Pseudomonas syringae, which can catalyze freezing due to ice-nucleating proteins anchored to the bacterial outer membrane. More specifically, Rosemary and her collaborators observed that polyols significantly enhance the assembly of ice-nucleating proteins into large aggregates, which improve bacterial ice nucleation efficiency. This can help showcase of the use of bacterial ice nucleation in various fields, from biotechnology to food preservation.
To read more about Rosemary’s publication, check out the article: Polyol-Induced 100-Fold Enhancement of Bacterial Ice Nucleation Efficiency.