John Tracey
Tracey studies the biochemistry of the marine nitrogen cycle. His research focuses on anammox bacteria that produce toxic intermediates to power their cells, deploy fatty acids to guard against these toxins, and evolutionarily date to near the root of the tree of life. Some anammox bacteria have small protein compartments, dubbed encapsulins, that might enclose some of the toxin producing enzymes central to the anammox metabolism. Through this research, Tracey seeks to elucidate the function of encapsulins using in-vitro experiments.