Meet The Microbiologist - The Scientists Behind The Microbiology

Dr. Paul Keim is a professor of biological sciences at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, where his research program focuses on microbial forensics and the genomic analysis of pathogenic bacteria.  As an expert in Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium responsible for anthrax, Dr. Keim participated in the FBI’s investigation into the anthrax letter attacks back in 2001. Microbial forensics is a field that developed in response to the twin threats of biological warfare and biological terrorism.  (What’s the difference between biological warfare and biological terrorism?  Both have the potential to reach beyond the site of the attack and both are a menace to innocent, unarmed citizens.  To me, there’s a fine line here.  But I digress.) Dr. Keim’s interest in microbial forensics arose out of his postdoctoral work at the University of Utah.  After this training in phage recombination and genomics, Dr. Keim applied what he had learned about bacterial genetics in a collaboration with scientists worki