David G. Goodwin Memorial Lecture
Title: "From Breathing Rocks to Sustainable Technologies: How Microbes Wire the Biotic-Abiotic Interface"
Abstract: At its core, life is an electron transfer phenomenon governed by bioenergetics, where every living organism harvests energy from the stepwise movement of electrons through reduction-oxidation (redox) chains. While many organisms rely on soluble oxidants that diffuse inside cells, certain microbes have evolved intricate bioelectronic solutions to access solid electron acceptors, like minerals, far beyond their cell walls. This extraordinary ability to "breathe rocks" not only drives global-scale environmental transformations but also provides a blueprint for emerging energy technologies. In this talk, we will explore the physical basis of these living electronic networks, where metalloprotein conduits link intracellular metabolism to extracellular surfaces ranging from minerals and syntrophic cells to solid-state electrodes. By traversing multiple length scales, from single molecule biophysics to the electrophysiology of biofilms and centimeter-scale multicellular bacteria, we will uncover how microbes wire themselves to the world around them. Ultimately, a fundamental understanding of these microbial communities reveals how molecular mechanisms sustain ecosystems on a changing planet, while opening new doors for bioelectrochemical devices and energy solutions.
Bio: Moh El-Naggar is Director of the Division of Biosphere Sciences and Engineering at Carnegie Science and Dean's Professor of Physics, Biological Sciences, and Molecular and Cellular Biosciences at the University of Southern California (USC). From 2021 to 2024, El-Naggar served as divisional dean in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division of the USC Dornsife College. He also served as interim dean of the Dornsife College in 2024-2025. In these leadership roles, he oversaw strategic planning, faculty appointments, and research advancement in a period of significant faculty hiring, fundraising, and the founding of multiple new interdisciplinary research initiatives across a wide range of scholarly disciplines.
El-Naggar and his interdisciplinary group investigate biological electron transfer and bioenergetics with special emphasis on the interface between microbes and the abiotic world. Their work, which has important implications for fundamental microbial physiology, geomicrobiology, and renewable energy technologies, is also helping usher a new generation of ‘living electronics' - an emerging field at the interface of synthetic biology and extracellular electron transfer.
El-Naggar received a B.S. degree from Lehigh University (2001), followed by M.S. (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) degrees from the California Institute of Technology. He is an editor for the Journal of Bacteriology and was elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2024. El-Naggar was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Obama in 2014. In 2012, he was named one of Popular Science's 'Brilliant 10'. In 2010, El-Naggar received a Department of Defense Young Investigator Award, from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Most important of all, he is proud of cultivating scientific networks and nurturing careers. He actively mentored 17 postdoctoral researchers, 13 PhD students, 20 undergraduate researchers, and 6 high school students during his 16-year faculty career.