Jeffrey (Jeff) Newman, Ph.D.
Lycoming College
Jeffrey (Jeff) Newman, Ph.D. is a professor of biology at Lycoming College, a small liberal arts school offering bachelor’s degrees in Williamsport, Pa.
Newman received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Marquette University and conducted postdoctoral research at the University Kentucky before beginning at Lycoming in 1995. His primary teaching responsibilities are microbiology, introduction to biology I, public health, genome analysis and research methods. The microbiology course includes a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in which students identify unknown bacterial isolates from a local creek using traditional methods as well as Biolog GenIII plates for medium throughput phenotyping and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. These isolates often are sufficiently different from previously named organisms to merit description as novel species.
Newman’s research laboratory has focused on the genomic and phenotypic characterization of these novel species candidates and comparison to the closest relatives. Goals of the research are the publication and naming of these novel species, determining genomic explanations for observed phenotypic differences and identifying the functions of hypothetical proteins encoded within their genomes. He also has served as an editor for the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM) and directed Lycoming College’s Covid testing program during the pandemic.
Newman received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Marquette University and conducted postdoctoral research at the University Kentucky before beginning at Lycoming in 1995. His primary teaching responsibilities are microbiology, introduction to biology I, public health, genome analysis and research methods. The microbiology course includes a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in which students identify unknown bacterial isolates from a local creek using traditional methods as well as Biolog GenIII plates for medium throughput phenotyping and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. These isolates often are sufficiently different from previously named organisms to merit description as novel species.
Newman’s research laboratory has focused on the genomic and phenotypic characterization of these novel species candidates and comparison to the closest relatives. Goals of the research are the publication and naming of these novel species, determining genomic explanations for observed phenotypic differences and identifying the functions of hypothetical proteins encoded within their genomes. He also has served as an editor for the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM) and directed Lycoming College’s Covid testing program during the pandemic.