Lisa Alvarez-Cohen

- Chair of Civil & Environmental Engineering
- Fred and Claire Sauer Professor
- Faculty Scientist, Ecology Dept., Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


Mailing Address:
Civil and Environmental Engineering
760 Davis Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-1710

Email:
chair@ce.berkeley.edu

 Phone:
(510) 643-8739

Fax:
(510) 643-5264

Teaching and Research

Professor Alvarez-Cohen teaching duties include graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental microbiology, environmental biological processes, and environmental engineering.  Current research areas include microbial ecology of bioremediation, biotransformation of environmental contaminants including chlorinated solvents, NDMA, 1,4-Dioxane and PBDEs; and genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and isotopic evaluation of bioremediation communities.

Alvarez-Cohen Research Group


 

Ongoing research projects include:

Professor Alvarez-Cohen recently co-authored a textbook entitled Environmental Engineering Science, available from John Wiley and Sons. Prof. Alvarez-Cohen, along with Prof. Bill Nazaroff, developed this text through using experience from teaching CE 111, a junior-level undergraduate environmental engineering class at UC Berkeley.

Selected Recent Publications

  • Zeng, X., S.L. Simonich,  K.L. Robrock, P. Korytár, L. Alvarez-Cohen,  and D. F. Barofsky.  2008. “Development and validation of a congener specific photodegradation model for PBDEs”. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, in press.
  • West, K. A., D. R. Johnson, P. Hu, T. Z. DeSantis, E. L. Brodie, P.K.H. Lee, H. Feil, G. L. Andersen, S. H. Zinder and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2008. “Comparative Genomics of Dehalococcoides ethenogenes 195 and a Dehalococcoides-Containing Enrichment Culture”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, in press.
  • Johnson, D. R., E. L. Brodie, A. E. Hubbard, G. L. Andersen, S. H. Zinder, and L. Alvarez-Cohen . 2008. Temporal Transcriptomic Microarray Analysis of the Adaptation to Growth-Limiting Conditions in Dehalococcoides ethenogenes Strain 195, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, in press.
  • Robrock, K., P. Korytár and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2008. “Pathways for the Anaerobic Microbial Debromination of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers”, Environmental Science and Technology, in press.
  • Lee, P. K. H., T. W. Macbeth, K. S. Sorenson and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2008. “Quantifying Genes and Transcripts to Assess the In Situ Physiology of Dehalococcoides spp. in a Trichloroethene-Contaminated Field Site”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, in press.
  • Sharp, J. O., Sales, C.M.,  LeBlanc, J.,  Liu, J., Wood, T. K., Eltis, L.D., Mohn, W. W.,  and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2007. “An Inducible Propane Monooxygenase is Responsible for N-nitrosodimethylamine Degradation by Rhodococcus sp. RHA1”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73: 6930-6938.
  • National Research Council Committee on Metagenomics (LA-C committee member) 2007. The New Science of Metagenomics: Revealing the Secrets of our Microbial Planet, National Academy Press, Washington DC.
  • Mahendra, S., C.J. Petzold, E. E. Baidoo, J. D. Keasling and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2007. “Identification of the Intermediates of in-vivo Oxidation of 1,4-Dioxane by Monooxygenase-Containing Bacteria”, Environmental Science and Technology, 41(21): 7330-7336.
  • Lee, P. K. H., M. E. Conrad, and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2007. “Stable Carbon Isotope Fractionation of Chloroethenes by Dehalorespiring Isolates”,Environmental Science and Technology, 41(12): 4277-4285.
  • He, J., V. F. Holmes, P. K. H. Lee and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2007. “Influence of Vitamin B12 and Co-cultures on the Growth of Dehalococcoides Isolates in Defined Medium”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73 (9): 2847-2853.
  • Lee, P.K.H., D.R. Johnson, V. F. Holmes, J. He and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2006. “Reductive Dehalogenase Gene Experession as a Biomarker for Physiological Activity of Dehalococcoides spp. ”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 72 (9): 6161-6168.
  • Holmes, V. F., J. He, P. K. H. Lee and L. Alvarez-Cohen. 2006. “Discrimination of Multiple Dehalococcoides Strains in a TCE Enrichment by Quantification of their Reductive Dehalogenase Genes”, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 72 (9): 5877-5883.

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