DR. J. BRIAN ROBERTSON 
Assistant Professor

CONTACT:
Email:   James.Robertson@mtsu.edu
Phone:  615-898-2066
Fax:      615-898-2053
Office Location:
Jones Hall 334
Box 60
Murfreesboro, TN 37132

EDUCATION:
B.S. (Biology) Murray State University, 1996
M.S. (Molecular Biology) Murray State University, 2000
Ph.D. (Chronobiology) Vanderbilt University, 2005-2009
Postdoc - (Laboratory-directed evolution) Vanderbilt University, 2009-2011

RESEARCH INTERESTS: bioluminescence, microbial time keeping, and biotechnology.
I am interested in the mechanisms microbes use to tell time. To monitor biological rhythms in microbes, I transfer the "glow-in-the-dark" genes from fireflies and other bioluminescent organisms into the microbes so that their glow reveals their underlying rhythmic genetic regulation.

Topics and Techniques in my lab:
Bioluminescence
Microbiology (non-pathogenic)
Biotechnology / Industrial Applications / Technology Development
Circadian Rhythms / Biological Clocks
Microbial Metabolism (respiration, fermentation)
Genetic Engineering / Transgenic Manipulations
Laboratory-Directed Evolution of Enzymes

PUBLICATIONS:
Robertson JB and Johnson CH. (2011) Luminescence as a Continuous Real-Time Reporter of Promoter Activity in Yeast Undergoing Respiratory Oscillations or Cell Division Rhythms. Methods in Molecular Biology. 734: 63-79, Humana Press.

Robertson JB, Zhang Y, Johnson CH. (2009) Light-emitting diode flashlights as effective and inexpensive light sources for fluorescence microscopy. Journal of Microscopy. 236:1-4

Stowers CC, Robertson JB, Ban H, Tanner RD, Boczko EM. (2009). Oscillating fermentor yield and enhanced product enrichment from periodic population structures. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 156: 59-75.

Robertson JB, Stowers CC, Boczko E, Johnson CH. (2008). Real-time luminescence monitoring of cell-cycle and metabolic oscillations in yeast. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 105: 17988-93

Robertson JB, Zhu T, Nasreen S, Kilkenny D, Bader D, Dees E. (2008). CMF1-Rb interaction promotes myogenesis in avian skeletal myoblasts. Developmental Dynamics. 237: 1424-33.

Dees E, Robertson JB, Zhu T, and Bader D. (2006). Specific deletion of CMF1 nuclear localization domain causes incomplete cell cycle withdrawal and impaired differentiation in avian skeletal myoblasts. Experimental Cell Research; 312(16): 3000-14.

Dees E, Robertson JB, Ashe M, Pabon-Pena LM, Bader D, and Goodwin RL. (2005).LEK1 protein expression in normal and dysregulated cardiomyocyte mitosis. The Anatomical Record Part A, Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology; 286(1): 823-32.

Zimmerer EJ, Carneal J, Robertson JB, Ozturk M, Cardiff S, Luo M. (2000). Genome organization and phylogenetic distribution of a novel family of ancient murine endogenous proviruses with evidence for transposition-mediated proliferation. Biochemical Genetics; 38(7-8):253-65