George Bonheyo
Marine Sciences Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
1529 West Sequim Bay Road
Sequim, Washington 98382
george.bonheyo@pnnl.gov
Biography
Dr. Bonheyo’s research for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory bridges national security concerns, basic environmental research, and applied biotechnology. The primary theme of his work concerns novel and improved methods for microbial identification/detection, enumeration, and characterization in complex environmental matrices. Located at the PNNL Marine Research Operations, this theme is applied to bioremediation, sensors development, biofouling, and the identification and isolation of natural products from marine environments with utility for industry and biotechnology. Prior to joining PNNL in 2005, Dr. Bonheyo was the cofounder and CEO of GeoBiologics, Inc in Champaign, IL; held an appointment as a research scientist in the Geology Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and actively consulted for companies involved with biotechnology, natural products discovery, and food safety. Current and past research projects have included:
- Manager of projects within the Signature Dynamics and Detection focus area for PNNL’s Signature Discovery Initiative (5 year, $15M+ internal investment)
- Sensor systems for maritime, industrial, an laboratory operations
- Synthetic biology: design and construction of living sensor systems
- Basic and applied research in biofouling, biofilms, and antifouling; customized coatings and strategies
- Bioremediation: strategies, genetic engineering, monitoring and testing (bacteria, bacteriophage, and fungi)
- Capture, retention, and recovery of environmental signatures from biofilms
- Biomarkers: applications for tracking the fate, transport, and persistence of chemical, biological, or radioactive contaminants; applications to paleoenvironmental reconstruction and sedimentary facies modeling; applications to modeling environmental reservoirs of pathogens and gene clusters
- Microbial community dynamics: the impact of environmental perturbations or instability upon diversity and gene expression, strategies and patterns of successive colonization, and the transport and dispersal of bacteria Horizontal gene transfer and its impacts on adaptation, evolution, and disease
- Microbe-mineral interactions in hot springs
- Etiology and ecology of polymicrobial diseases of corals
Research Interests
- Dr. Bonheyo’s work applies genetic engineering and molecular biology to address microbiological problems in national security, the environment, human health, and biotechnology. Research programs include:
- Design and fabrication of biosensors and genetically engineered biosentinel species, with particular application to freshwater and marine environments
- Microbial community dynamics: strategies and patterns of successive colonization; impacts of environmental instability; transport and dispersal of bacteria; innovative methods for whole community analysis
- Biomarkers - applications for tracking the fate, transport, and persistence of chemical, biological, or radioactive contaminants; applications to paleoenvironmental reconstruction and sedimentary facies modeling; applications to modeling environmental reservoirs of pathogens and gene clusters
- Bioremediation – characterization of activity and cleanup strategies
- Marine biotechnology - identification and isolation of natural products from marine environments with utility for industry and biotechnology
Education and Credentials
- 1999-2002 NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Carbonate geomicrobiology, ecology and etiology of polymicrobial disease
- 1999 Ph.D. Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Thesis: The DNA transfer region of Bacteroides conjugative transposons TcrEmrDOT and TcrERL
- 1993 M.S. Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Thesis: Regulation by genes on the Bacteroides Tcr Element
- 1991 B.S. Biology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Affiliations and Professional Service
- American Society for Microbiology
- Geological Society of America
- American Geophysical Union
Awards and Recognitions
- Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL Energy & Environment Directorate, Feb 2012
- Contribution Program (ECP) Award for 2010, PNNL
- Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL National Security Directorate, July, 2008
- Outstanding Performance Award, PNNL Energy & Environment Directorate, Feb, 2008
- National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2000-2002
- Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 1997
