Rebecca Wilkes joined the Synthetic Biology and Bioconversion team as a postdoctoral researcher in June 2022. Her work focuses on microbial valorization of lignin by whole-cell metabolism, improving stress tolerance mechanisms to promote bioproduction, and targeted application of outer membrane vesicles to improve catabolism of aromatic compounds. Prior to starting at NREL, her doctoral research focused on utilizing a multi-omics approach with particular focus on metabolomics and ¹³C-tracing to investigate carbon flux and regulation of native cellular pathways involved in the catabolism of natural and xenobiotic compounds.

For additional information, see Rebecca A. Wilkes's LinkedIn profile. 
Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed on LinkedIn are the author’s own, made in the author's individual capacity, and do not necessarily reflect the views of NREL.

Research Interests

Synthetic biology tools for optimized production of value-added products 
 
Multi-omics analyses of bacterial metabolic pathways 
 
Lignin and waste valorization 

Education

Ph.D., Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University 
 
M.S., Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University 
 
B.A., Biology, Washington and Jefferson College 

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral Researcher, NREL (2022–present)

Postdoctoral Scholar, Northwestern University (2021–2022) 
 
Visiting Scholar, Northwestern University (2019–2021) 
 
National Science Foundation REU Fellow, Michigan State University (2015) 
 
National Science Foundation REU Fellow, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (2014) 

Featured Work

Complex Regulation in a Comamonas Platform for Diverse Aromatic Carbon Metabolism, Nature Chemical Biology (2023)  
 
Analogous Metabolic Decoupling in Pseudomonas putida and Comamonas testosteroni Implies Energetic Bypass to Facilitate Gluconeogenic Growth, MBio (2021)