Jerry Goldstein

Professor and Department Chair

Office: Rm. 340, CWSC

Phone: (740) 368-3506

E-mail address: jegoldst@owu.edu

Links to courses:

Introduction to Microbiology

Medical Microbiology

Bacterial Physiology

Molecular Genetics

Molecular Biology of Virology

Dr. Goldstein joined the Botany/Microbiology Department in 1983 and currently serves as the chairperson of the department. The courses that he teaches include Introduction to Microbiology (BOMI 125), Medical Microbiology (BOMI 280), Bacterial Physiology (BOMI 328), Molecular Genetics (BOMI 353), and Molecular Biology of Virology (BOMI 357). Additionally, he has offered seminars for advanced students in the areas of microbes used in biological warfare and bioinformatics (computer analysis of DNA).

Dr. Goldstein is currently part of a group of faculty at Ohio Wesleyan who have been awarded two consecutive research grants from the National Science Foundation to study the process of hydrolysis of feathers by bacteria such as Bacillus licheniformis. The first grant was $774,000 and extended from 19995-1999. The second grant is for $800,000 and ends after the summer of 2003. The research Dr. Goldstein and his students are performing involves cloning, sequencing, and expressing the keratinase genes from naturally occurring bacteria cultured from the feathers of wild birds. Every year in the United States more than one billion pounds of feathers are discarded, mainly by transfer to landfill sites. Hydrolysis of feathers, which are composed primarily of keratin protein, produces small proteins and amino acids that could be used as an inexpensive nutrient supplement for animal feed. This usage would remove a million pounds of garbage from landfills each year.

Dr. Goldstein and his students have presented the results of their research at the American Society for Microbiology General Meetings from 1997-2001. The ASM General Meeting is one of the largest annual conferences for biological sciences in the world.

• Jerry Goldstein, Beth Ann Browne, Kelly Flory, Samia Majid, 2001. Genetic analysis of feather degradation by Bacillus licheniformis. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, Orlando, Florida.

• Jerry Goldstein, Erin Wagner, Erin Masisak, Young-Eun Ellen Lee, and Priscilla McDowell, 2000. Variation in the rate of keratin degradation is determined by the amount of enzyme produced but not by differences in the structure of the enzyme. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, Los Angeles, California.

• Jerry Goldstein, Alison Limpert and Joshua Obar, 1999. Nucleotide sequence of the keratinase gene of Bacillus licheniformis isolate from a wild bird. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, Chicago, Illinois.   

• Jerry Goldstein, Sara Fitzgerald, and Alison Limpert, 1998. Cloning and expression of the Bacillus licheniformis keratinase gene in E. coli. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.

• Jerry Goldstein and Kelly Edwards Troyer, 1997. Identification of keratinase-producing bacteria by PCR and by restriction enzyme digestion of genomic DNA. American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, Miami Beach, Florida

 Dr. Goldstein's research interests also include evaluating chemicals for their ability to inhibit the replication of viruses in cultured eucaryotic cells. He was awarded a research grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the effect of the antibiotic, diazo-oxo-norleucine, on the replication of Herpes simplex virus. Currently students are testing this antibiotic on the replication of Adenoviruses in cultured green monkey kidney cells.