Samford University chemistry professor Corey Johnson has earned a fall, 2022, sabbatical fellowship from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES,) a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Johnson’s sabbatical project is sponsored by Shelley Copley, a University of Colorado in Boulder professor in the Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Department. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Copley and her research team,” Johson said. “Our project will focus on the characterization of enzymes in a newly evolved microbial metabolic pathway that can degrade toxic pesticides. In fact, the microbe can use pollutants as food or fuel!”

The CIRES project is similar to work Johson has done on fungal and bacterial enzymes with research students and Samford chemistry colleagues Denise Gregory and Brian Gregory. The fellowship, and Samford’s support for it, will help him develop in ways that can enrich such projects at home. “This experience will allow me to grow as a teacher-scholar, expand my professional ties, and return with new skills that will improve the education and training of our undergraduates,” he said.