Topic: Xenobiotics Metabolism

Nitzan Koppel earned her BS degree in Chemical Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. At Berkeley, she conducted research in the laboratory of Michael Marletta where she characterized unnatural amino acid variants of Heme nitric oxide/oxygen (H-NOX) binding proteins involved in bacterial gas sensing. Following her undergraduate studies, Nitzan joined the Allopartis Biotechnologies, Inc. team to work on a directed evolution platform to generate cellulase variants with enhanced activity for industrial and biofuels applications. In 2012, Nitzan began her doctoral studies in the Chemical Biology PhD program at Harvard University. Under the guidance of Professor Emily Balskus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, she is exploring how human gut microbial metabolism of xenobiotics (dietary, pharmaceutical, or environmental compounds) alters their bioactivities and influences human health. Her graduate research focuses on characterizing the bacteria and enzymes that metabolize and inactivate the cardiac medication digoxin.