Tullman-Ercek Group
Laboratory for Engineering Membrane Proteins and Protein Membranes
Danielle Tullman-Ercek
Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Director, Master of Science in Biotechnology Program
Northwestern University
B.S. Chemical Engineering, 2000
Illinois Institute of Technology
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2006
University of Texas, Austin
Advisor: George Georgiou
3619 Silverman Hall
Phone: (847) 491-7043
E-mail: ercek at northwestern.edu
Curriculum vitae
After earning her B.S. degree in chemical engineering, Tullman-Ercek began her Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin under advisor George Georgiou. Her dissertation focused on the pathway bacteria use to transport folded proteins across membranes, and how this pathway may be used in protein engineering applications. After earning her Ph.D. in 2006, Tullman-Ercek began her post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco in the laboratory of Chris Voigt. Her primary project in the Voigt lab was the study of spider silk production and secretion in Salmonella. She also immersed herself in the challenges and potential of the field of synthetic biology. She continued her postdoctoral studies at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, working to improve enzymes that break down biomass for more efficient and economic biofuel production processes. Tullman-Ercek joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UC Berkeley in 2009. Inspired by her previous work, her research group focuses on engineering multi-component systems in biology – such as protein and small molecule secretion machinery and bacterial microcompartments – using tools and techniques from protein engineering and synthetic biology.