Angela Kouris

Biography

As a Research Associate working with Dr. Marc Strous, Dr. Angela Kouris supports the research initiatives and program management activities in the Global Research Initiative’s Grand Challenges 5 and 6 (extraction of zero-carbon energy from reservoirs and CO2 conversion). Additionally, Angela provides laboratory support, advice and training with proteomic workflows to members of EBG and to external collaborators. Angela is also the CEO and Co-founder of Synergia Biotech Inc., a cleantech Startup that emerged from the GRI’s Theme 3 Bioenergy research. During her PhD studies in the Department of Biological Sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal and in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (Bremen, Germany) and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Paris, France), Angela characterized the ecology and symbiosis of the northeast Pacific, deep-sea hydrothermal vent ciliate Folliculinopsis sp. using molecular tools, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope probing and electron microscopy. Her postdoctoral work in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign considered the spatial and temporal population dynamics of Sulfolobus islandicus, a hyperthermoacidophilic crenarchaeon from geothermal hot springs. Prior to joining the Strous lab at EBG, Angela worked as a Research Specialist for both the DNA Sequencing and Flow Cytometry facilities at the University of Illinois’ Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center.