Two students working on a autonomous plane
Duffield Hall at sunset.
Woman taking a photo of a mumified bird
Students walking along Ho Plaza
Two students walking on Engineering Quad towards Duffield

John March

Chair, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
Professor
Biological Engineering

Biography

John March is a Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and is currently the department Chair. His work in cell signaling is focused on reconfiguring biological systems for improved performance in the areas of biomedicine and sustainability. His work attempts to change bacterial or eukaryotic signal transduction to make cells that are more responsive to their environment and more efficient as technological tools.

Research Focus

By rewiring cellular signaling circuitry, highly specific responses can be tailored to a wide array of process inputs. Most of the work in the March laboratory is centered in three major areas: signal transduction, metabolism, and eukaryotic-prokaryotic interactions. While his group is primarily concerned with events occurring at a subcellular level, sometimes the best solution can be found by focusing on the environment immediately around a cellular population.

Teaching Focus

Professor March teaches BEE 3600 Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering and BEE 4600 Deterministic and Stochastic Modeling in Biological Engineering at the undergraduate level. As part of his responsibilities as the Director of Graduate Studies, he also supports BEE 7000 Orientation to Graduate Study.

Awards and Honors

  • Editor’s Choice feature for paper on synthetic intestinal scaffolds (2012) Biotechnology and Bioengineering
  • Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (2011) US Government

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

  • Tran, T., Cui, J., Hartman, M., Peng, S., Funabashi, H., Duan, F., Yang, D. Y., March, J. C., Lis, J. T., Cui, H., & Luo, D. (2013). “A Universal DNA-Based Protein Detection System.” JACS: Journal of the American Chemical Society. 135:14008-14011.
  • Goh, Y. L., He, H., & March, J. C. (2012). “Invited Review: Engineering commensal bacteria for prophylaxis against infection.” Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 23:924-930.
  • Aurand, T. C., Russell, M. E., & March, J. C. (2012). “Invited Review: Synthetic signaling networks for therapeutic applications.” Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 23:773-779.
  • Esch, M. B., Sung, J. H., Yang, J., Yu, C., Yu, J., March, J. C., & Shuler, M. L. (2012). “On chip porous polymer membranes for integration of gastrointestinal tract epithelium with microfluidic Ôbody-on-a-chipÕ devices.” Biomedical Microdevices. 14:895-906.
  • Yu, J., Peng, S., Luo, D., & March, J. C. (2012).  “In vitro 3D human small intestinal villous model for drug permeability determination.” Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 109:2173-2178.
  • Tsao, C. Y., Wang, L., Hashimoto, Y., Yi, H., March, J. C., DeLisa, M. P., Wood, T., Valdes, J. J., & Bentley, W. E. (2011). “LuxS co-expression enhances yield of recombinant proteins in E. coli in part through post-transcriptional control of GroEL.” AEM: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 77:2141-2152.
  • Sung, J. S., Yu, J., Luo, D., Shuler, M., & March, J. C. (2011). “Microscale 3-D hydrogel scaffold for biomimetic gastrointestinal (GI) tract model.” Lab on a Chip. 11:389-392.
  • Russell, M. S., & March, J. C. (2011). “Bootstrap estimation of confidence intervals on mutation rate ratios.” Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis. 52:385-396.
  • Duan, F., & March, J. C. (2010). “Engineered bacterial communication prevents V. cholerae virulence in an infant mouse model.” PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 107:11260–11264.
  • Duan, F., Curtis, K. L., & March, J. C. (2008). Secretion of Insulinotropic Proteins by Commensal Bacteria: Rewiring the Gut To Treat Diabetes. AEM: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 74:7437-7438.

Websites