William (Bill) J. Hickey

Education

• BA, Biology, 1982, State University of New York
• MS, Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry, 1986, Iowa State University
• PhD, Soil Science, 1990, University of California, Riverside

• Chen, S., W. F. Bleam and W. J. Hickey (200x). “Simultaneous analysis of bacterioferritin gene expression and intracellular iron status in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 by using a rapid dual luciferase reporter assay.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. (In Review).
• Jencova, V., H. Strnad, Z. Chodora, P. Ulbrich, W.J. Hickey, C. Vlcek, V. Paces (2008) “Nucleotide sequence, organization and characterization of the chlorobenzoic acids catabolic plasmid pA81 from Achromobacter xylosoxidans A8.” Res. Microbiol. 159:118-127.
• Starkenburg, S.R., P.S.G. Chain, L.A. Sayavedra-Soto, L. Hauser, M.L. Land, F.W. Larimer, S.A. Malfatti, M.G. Klotz5, P.J. Bottomley, D.J. Arp, and W.J. Hickey (2006) “The genome sequence of the chemolithoautotrophic nitrite-oxidizing bacterium Nitrobacter winogradskyi Nb-255.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72:2050-2063.
• Burton, E.O., H.W. Read, M.C. Pellitteri and W.J. Hickey (2005) “Identification of acyl-homoserine lactone signal molecules produced by Nitrosomonas europaea strain Schmidt.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:4906-4909.
• Vacca, D.J., W.F. Bleam and W.J. Hickey. (2005) “Isolation of soil bacteria adapted to degrade humic acid-sorbed phenanthrene.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:3797-3805.
• Jencova, V., H. Strnad, P. Ulbrich, W.J. Hickey and V. Paces. (2004) “Chlorocatechol catabolic enzymes from Achromobacter xylosoxidans A8.” Int. Biodeter. Biodeg. 54:175-181.
• Yuroff, A.S. and W.J. Hickey (2003) “Transporter-mediated uptake of 2-chloro- and 2-hydroxy-benzoate by Pseudomonas huttiensis strain D1.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69:7401-7408.
• Rose, P., J.M. Harkin, and W.J. Hickey (2003) “Competitive touchdown PCR for estimation of Escherichia coli DNA recovery in soil DNA extraction.” J. Microbiol. Meth. 52:29-38.
• Hickey, W.J. and G. Sabat. (2001) “Integration of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and molecular cloning for the identification and functional characterization of mobile ortho-halobenzoate oxygenase genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain JB2.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67:5648-5655.
• Hickey, W.J., G. Sabat, A.S. Yuroff, A.R. Arment and J. Pérez-Lesher (2001) “A novel, mobile cluster of biodegradation genes from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain JB2: Cloning, nucleotide sequencing, and functional analysis.” Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67:4603-4609.

Research topics are: Molecular mechanisms by which bacteria extract iron from clay minerals, development of new biomarkers that may be used as alternatives to antibiotics for use in studies of soil-borne pathogenic bacteria, elucidation of the architecture, biogenesis and physiological functions of a novel bacterial nanostructure, genome-wide analysis of bacterial biodegradation systems.

1994 Young Investigator Award. US Department of Agriculture