James Ellinger
Institution: University of Tokyo
Address: Nishikubo 2-31-1 Sun Palace Nishikubo 303
Postal Code: 180-0013
Country: Japan
James is a biochemist from the United States and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo. He received his B.A. at the College of Wooster in 2004 and his Ph.D. in 2012 from the University of Wisconsin. As an undergraduate his research focused on understanding the enzymatic reactions that are catalyzed by arginine and creatine kinases. During his graduate studies, he developed analytical methods using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy that can be used to identify and quantify small molecules in complex biological mixtures, also known as metabolomics. Using these methods, he has published results from various types of studies including metabolism in red blood cells, microbial response to environmental stress, and characterization of protein function. During his post-doctoral research, he changed his focus to synthetic biology. In this area, he worked to develop cell-to-cell bacterial communication systems, microbial degradation of methyl mercury, and designed a novel plasmid for the bacterium Rhodococcus opacus PD630. His current research is aimed at scientific pedagogy for English language learners.