Rohan Balakrishnan

Rohan Balakrishnan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of North Texas (UNT), joining the department in Fall 2024. He is affiliated with the BioDiscovery Institute as of December 2024.

Dr. Balakrishnan's research focuses on microbial physiology and the quantitative relationships between cellular components. His work examines how DNA, mRNA, ribosomes, and proteins interact to govern cell growth, survival, and environmental responses. Key research areas include transcription-translation fluxes, protein homeostasis during starvation, resource allocation strategies, and ppGpp signaling kinetics.

His recent publications reveal trends in bacterial gene regulation, proteome allocation, and growth laws, with significant contributions appearing in high-impact journals like Science, Nature Microbiology, and PNAS. His research bridges molecular biology, systems biology, and quantitative approaches to understand fundamental cellular processes in bacteria.

Dr. Balakrishnan received his PhD in Biochemistry from Ohio State University, where he studied ribosome-associated factors in translation. He completed postdoctoral work at UC San Diego focusing on the quantitative relationship between mRNA and protein in bacteria.

• Principles of gene regulation quantitatively connect DNA to RNA and proteins in bacteria (Science, 2022)
• Inheritance of secreted enzymes enables sustained growth of marine bacteria (Nature Microbiology, 2023)
• Conditionally unutilized proteins and their effects on microbial growth (Current Opinion in Microbiology, 2023)

His laboratory, opened in August 2024, focuses on harnessing microbial biosynthetic capacity and understanding the physiology of microbes. Dr. Balakrishnan advises graduate students through the Graduate Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UNT.