I am a postdoctoral associate at Rutgers University in the Department of Genetics where I am developing new high-throughput genomic tools to study the intricacies of protein synthesis.
I received my undergraduate degree in biology from the Ohio State University and worked as a lab tech in Dr. Michael Ibba’s lab. I earned my master’s degree in microbiology at the University of Georgia where I examined cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzyme activity of the hindgut microbial community of the aquatic crane fly, Tipula abdominalis, through culture-dependent and independent techniques to find novel degradative capabilities for converting agricultural waste products into biofuel with Dr. Joy Doran Peterson. I returned to the Ohio State University and Dr. Michael Ibba’s lab where I earned my doctorate in microbiology and investigated the role of a tRNA-like element that modulates antibiotic resistance in the common food pathogen, Bacillus cereus. During my postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Eric C. Martens at the University of Michigan, I investigated polysaccharide degradation by two anaerobic human gut symbionts, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Bacteroides ovatus.
For seven years, I was an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Biology at California Lutheran University, a primarily undergraduate liberal arts institution. In addition to teaching microbiology and molecular biology, I trained students to develop and implement laboratory-based research projects, which included culture-dependent techniques to screen for antibiotic-producing microbes and culture-independent techniques to study microbial communities in soils, insect gut systems, and mammalian fecal samples. As I am most passionate about performing research, I decided to make a career shift to focus on laboratory-based research.
Previous publications
Tamura, K., Hemsworth, G.R., Dejean, G., Rogers, T.E., Pudlo, N.A., Urs, K., Jain, N., Davies, G.J., Martens, E.C., & Brumer, H. (2017). Molecular mechanism by which prominent human gut Bacteroidetes utilize mixed-linkage-glucans, major health-promoting cereal polysaccharides. Cell Reports, 21, 417-430. DOI
Bågenholm, V., Reddy, S.K., Bouraoui, H., Morrill, J., Kulcinskaja, E., Bahr, C.M., Aurelius, O., Rogers, T., Xiao, Y., Logan, D.T., Martens, E.C., Koropatkin, N.M., and Stålbrand, H. (2017). Galactomannan catabolism conferred by a polysaccharide utilisation locus of Bacteroides ovatus: enzyme synergy and crystal structure of a β-mannanase. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 292, 229-243. DOI
Rogowski, A., Briggs, J.A., Mortimer, J.C., Tryfona, T., Terrapon, N., Lowe, E.C., Baslé, A., Morland, C., Day, A.M., Zheng, H., Rogers, T.E., Thompson, P., Hawkins, A.R., Yadav, M.P., Henrissat, B., Martens, E.C., Dupree, P., Gilbert, H.J., & Bolam, D.N. (2015). Glycan complexity dictates microbial resource allocation in the large intestine. Nature Communications, 6, 7481. DOI
Larsbrink, J., Rogers, T.E., Hemsworth, G.R., McKee, L.S., Tauzin, A.S., Spadiut, O., Klinter, S., Pudlo, N.A., Urs, K., Koropatkin, N.M., Creagh, A.L., Haynes, C.A., Kelly, A.G., Cederholm, S.N., Davies, G.J., Martens, E.C., & Brumer, H. (2014). A discrete genetic locus confers xyloglucan metabolism in select human gut Bacteroidetes. Nature, 506, 498-502. DOI Authors contributed equally
Rogers, T.E., Koropatkin, N.M., Bell, J.S., Moya-Balash, M., Jasker, K., & Martens, E.C. (2013). Dynamic responses of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron during growth on complex glycan mixtures. Molecular Microbiology, 88, 876-890. DOI
Rogers, T.E., Ataide, S.F., Dare, K., Katz, A., Seveau, S., Roy, H., & Ibba, M. (2012). A pseudo-tRNA modulates antibiotic resistance in Bacillus cereus. PLoS ONE, 7, e41248. DOI
Banerjee, R., Chen, S., Dare, K., Gilreath, M., Praetorius-Ibba, M., Reina, M., Reynolds, N., Rogers, T., Roy, H., Yadavalli, S.S., & Ibba, M. (2010). tRNA: Cellular barcodes for amino acids. FEBS Letters, 584, 387-395. DOI
Rogers, T.E., & Doran Peterson, J.B. (2010). Analysis of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzyme activity within the Tipula abdominalis (Say) (Diptera; Tipulidae) larval gut and characterization of Crocebacterium ilecola gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from the Tipula abdominalis larval hindgut. Insect Science, 17, 291-302. DOI
Ataide, S.F., Rogers, T.E., & Ibba, M. (2009). The CCA anticodon specifies separate functions inside and outside translation in Bacillus cereus. RNA Biology, 6, 479-487. PMCID: PMC2784187
Cook, D.M., Henriksen, E.D., Rogers, T.E., & Peterson, J.D. (2008). Klugiella xanthotipulae gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family Microbacteriaceae. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 58, 2779-2782. DOI
Ataide, S.F., Wilson, S.N., Dang, S., Rogers, T.E., Roy, B., Banerjee, R., Henkin, T.M., & Ibba, M. (2007). Mechanisms of resistance to an amino acid antibiotic that targets translation. ACS Chemical Biology, 2, 819- 827. DOI
Prætorius-Ibba, M., Hausmann, C., Paras, M., Rogers, T.E., & Ibba, M. (2007). Functional association between three archaeal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 282, 3680-3687. DOI
Prætorius-Ibba, M., Rogers, T.E., Samson, R., Kelman, Z., & Ibba, M. (2005). Association between archaeal prolyl-and leucyl-tRNA synthetases enhances tRNAPro aminoacylation. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280, 26099- 26104. DOI