Karen Wawrousek

Karen Wawrousek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wyoming, where she also serves as the ABET Coordinator. She is affiliated with the university’s College of Engineering and Applied Science and the interdisciplinary Molecular and Cellular Life Science Program. Her work integrates chemical engineering, microbiology, and bio-analytical chemistry to tackle global challenges in sustainable energy and public health.

Education & Professional Experience

• Ph.D., Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, California Institute of Technology (2001–2009)
• Postdoctoral Scientist (Photobiology), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (2010–2011)
• Lead Scientist (Waste & Environmental Management), Western Research Institute (2012–2014)

Research Interests

Wawrousek’s group engineers non-model bacteria to convert low-value waste streams into high-value fuels and chemicals. Using organisms such as Rhodococcus opacus and Rubrivivax gelatinosus, her team has advanced metabolic pathways for biodiesel precursors, hydrogen, and commodity chemicals. Parallel projects explore microbial life in the deep subsurface, elucidating how extreme pressure, salinity, and nutrient limitation shape community structure and function. More recently, her laboratory pivoted to biomedical diagnostics, developing ultrasensitive SERS-based assays that detect SARS-CoV-2 in saliva at femtogram levels—work that emerged from an earlier initiative on novel point-of-care diagnostics.

Publication & Patent Highlights

Across 2022–2025, Wawrousek’s publications reveal a clear trajectory from fundamental microbial physiology toward applied bio-products and rapid diagnostics. Key themes include valorization of agricultural by-products (e.g., sugar beet molasses), nanomaterial-enhanced remediation, and plasmonic biosensors for viral antigens. Her patent portfolio (five granted or pending since 2017) protects innovations in CO₂-to-fuel bioprocessing, rare-earth recovery, and COVID-19 detection platforms.

Current Funding & Collaborative Teams

• National Science Foundation – metabolic engineering of non-model bacteria for fuels and chemicals
• U.S. Department of Energy – microbial ecology of extreme subsurface environments
• Interdisciplinary COVID-19 diagnostics consortium involving virologists, immunologists, and optical engineers

Laboratory & Infrastructure

Research is conducted in Engineering Hall 4029, equipped for anaerobic microbiology, metabolic flux analysis, optical biosensor prototyping, and high-throughput SERS screening. The lab hosts graduate students and postdoctoral researchers drawn from chemical engineering, molecular biology, and environmental science programs at Wyoming’s R1 university.