Hughes Mentor:  Antje Baeumner

Department: Biological and Environmental Engineering

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Dr. Antje Bäumner

Dr. Antje Bäumner completed her undergraduate studies in Germany, majoring in molecular biological engineering. The concentration was evenly distributed between classes in engineering, molecular biology, and chemistry. This diverse education enabled Dr. Bäumner to experience all three of the fields that she was then considering, and later helped her choose her future research direction.

The program at the Technical University at Brunswick, which Dr. Bäumner attended, lasted six years; however, after its completion, she received a degree from Cambridge University before returning to Germany and receiving her PhD in Technical Biochemistry. Dr. Bäumner then came to Cornell and completed a post-doc in Food Science Technology, after which she moved to the department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, where she is currently a professor.

Dr. Bäumner’s research interests have evolved and spread since her undergraduate years. She was first interested in bioremediation (cleaning up the environment from pollution, like that caused by oil spills, with the help of biological agents) with microorganisms. However, by the time that she did her master’s work, she had become interested in biosensors, and her master’s thesis research was about the biological aspect of making these devices. From there, her interest in biosensors spread, and she is currently doing research on many different aspects of the subject, especially in the area of biosensors and nanotechnology.

Dr. Bäumner’s lab has created a number of sensors that are capable of identifying cells and viruses by their RNA. This procedure is very sensitive – it can detect as little as one femtomole (1x10-15 moles) of RNA. With the help of an RNA-amplifying technique, which Dr. Bäumner hopes to miniaturize and combine with the rest of the already existant thumb-sized sensor, her biosensors would be even more sensitive, ideally being able to identify the presence of a microorganism based on one or two strands of its RNA.

The biosensors developed in the Bäumner lab have some immensely important applications. For example, they have been used to test water for Cryptosporidium parvum, a protozoan that got 400,000 people in Milwaukee sick in 1993. She is also developing sensors for the virus that causes Dengue, a disease that infects 50 million people annually, mostly in the tropics. Many other biosensors have also been developed or are under development in the Bäumner lab, with applications ranging from detection of harmful bacteria in food to detection of bioweapons.

Dr. Bäumner teaches a class on biosensors, as well as Principles of Bioengineering. She is very fond of undergraduates, and has had many of them working in her lab over the years, including a number of Hughes Research Scholars. She welcomes undergrads majoring in a slew of subjects, ranging from food science to electrical engineering, to participate in her research. She strongly recommends that students interested in her research take biochemistry (though this is not a prerequisite to working in her lab). While she prefers to take in new students earlier in their undergraduate careers rather than later, she has had a number of seniors start working in her lab.