Microbes, medicine and mentorship

Fulton Schools researcher generates new revelations in health, biology and environmental engineering​

Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, is an academic chameleon.

Since she began her career in environmental engineering, she has adapted her expertise to establish herself as an influential researcher in water treatment, gut-brain interactions, the microbiome and nutrition.

Krajmalnik-Brown studies interactions between microbes and their environment, known as the microbiome. Her work takes a deeper look at how the environment and microbiome interactions impact each other.

As a scientist, engineer, professor and researcher, Krajmalnik-Brown adapts her approach seamlessly to each role. Her expertise in molecular ecology has enabled her to shift between the use of microbial systems for environmental pollutant clean-up, known as bioremediation, and the human intestinal microbial ecology and its relationship to metabolism and autism.

She currently oversees various projects as the director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, a big jump from when she came to ASU nearly 20 years ago as an eager postdoc. Now a renowned faculty member, she has since flourished as an inventor who can blend and transform any field.

“When I started my career at ASU, I remember thinking, ‘this is a place where if you can dream it, you can do it,’ and ASU has been that for me,” Krajmalnik-Brown says. “I’ve grown so much at ASU, and it’s been pivotal to me being who I am now.”

An engineer for any environment

While Krajmalnik-Brown is an environmental engineer by trade, she says that much of her work doesn’t fall into the traditional definition of environmental engineering.

“I didn’t expect the trajectory my career took,” she says. “I would have never imagined that my first funded grant would be for constipation, but it really does all relate back to bioremediation.”

While working on her undergraduate degree in industrial biochemical engineering at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, she became inspired by Sergio Revah, a professor of chemical engineering.

“It happens so often, right?” Krajmalnik-Brown says. “The people you meet with can change your trajectory.”

Revah was performing bioremediation, a process that uses microorganisms to sustainably consume and break down environmental pollutants by using microbes to clean airstreams produced by factories. The translational impact of the work inspired her to pursue master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering to explore how microbes can be used to clean contaminated groundwater.

Her first patent is from research she conducted while earning her doctoral degree: a gene that encodes an enzyme necessary to complete detoxification in a bioremediation procedure. Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has since nullified the ability to patent genes.

“It was a learning experience,” Krajmalnik-Brown says. “We patented the gene, but not the method to detect the gene, so the patent became invalid. Still, the experience helped me because I now understand the legal process much better.”

Scientist + engineer = inventor

When she started at ASU as a postdoc, Krajmalnik-Brown initiated various research thrusts and hoped one of them would gain traction. She had a framework for using bioremediation in water treatment but also saw potential applications elsewhere. Similarly to using the correct type of gasoline to fuel a car, the right balance of microbes in a person’s gut helps their body extract energy and nutrients from food to perform various functions.

“I come from the environmental engineering field where we use microbes to clean and other good things — microbes are our friends,” she says. “The right combination of microbes can supercharge nearly any environment.”

Krajmalnik-Brown’s career has since pivoted toward the microbe environment within the human gut and how it affects metabolism, development and chronic illness. Applying microbiome principles to gut health broadened her opportunities beyond the traditional realm of environmental engineering.

As she progressed through her career and merged disciplines, she observed a difference between what it meant to be a scientist or an engineer.

“In my experience, the role of a scientist focuses on understanding the fundamental nature of how and why processes work, answering ‘what is this doing and why is it doing that?’” she says. “To be an engineer is to explore the uses and interactions of something. Like, ‘Okay, we understand this, now how do we use this?’ Those definitions felt limiting.”

Her work blended discovery and application, aiming not only to understand the nature of the problem but to fix it.

“We want to understand how things work, we want to understand the fundamental principles, but there’s always a use-inspired reason why we do that,” she says. “We aren’t just understanding or just solving. We want to take both principles to make impactful change.”

Combining explorative and solutions-focused approaches, she found her stride as an inventor.

A match made in the microbiome

She met her match in President’s Professor James Adams, a faculty member in the School of Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at the Fulton Schools. Though Adams taught materials science and engineering, he shifted most of his research to autism. Adams suspected there was a connection between gut function and autism, but did not have the methods or resources to investigate his theory.

“On our first project together, we were just comparing the microbiome of kids with autism and typically developing children,” Krajmalnik-Brown recalls. “I said, ‘Okay, can we ask this question differently? Are they missing beneficial microbes?’ And that’s exactly what we found.”

Their research suggested that children with autism were missing beneficial microbes that impaired their gut metabolism, possibly affecting their bodies’ physical development.

“Understanding the microbe deficiency made it easier to solve the problem. They needed a friendly introduction to the right microbes,” she says.

Adams and Krajmalnik-Brown have been collaborating for more than 12 years to generate major advances in understanding the gut microbiome in children with autism.

The duo has designed, developed and patented methods for diagnosing children with autism through blood and urine samples. They have developed a promising treatment that improves gut health by improving gastrointestinal and some autism-related symptoms. Together, they cofounded Gut-Brain-Axis Therapeutics Inc., which has raised more than $6 million to support the research.

“Together, we have made major advances in understanding the gut microbiome in children with autism,” Adams says, “[We have] developed a treatment that has the potential to be the first FDA-approved treatment for autism.”

Happy gut, happy future

Krajmalnik-Brown’s commitment to translational applications and interdisciplinary collaboration has solidified her as a high-impact inventor. She says she is proud of her work in understanding, diagnosing and treating autism spectrum disorders and is eager to explore how the work will progress.

Kyle Siegal, executive director and chief patent counsel at Skysong Innovations, ASU’s intellectual property management company, says Krajmalnik-Brown is a frequent client and no stranger to the technology transfer process.

“Rosa has been listed as an inventor on 25 innovations submitted to our office, which have led to more than 40 issued patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and corresponding foreign patent offices,” Siegal says. “Her research has the potential to make a massive difference in the lives of autism patients and their families.”

Laurie LaPat-Polasko, vice president at Matrix New World Engineering and longtime collaborator, agrees that Krajmalnik-Brown surpasses the stereotypical definition of a scientist, engineer or professor.

“Rosa has demonstrated how an individual can start their career focused on one area and transition into another one seamlessly,” LaPat-Polasko says. “She has made important contributions and discoveries in environmental engineering and neuroscience. She has mentored many students who will continue to carry on this important research.”

As the center director of ASU’s microbiomes institute, she is mindful of the impact that culture, chemistry and curiosity can have on the academic environment.

“I try to create the right environment for people to be happy to come to work,” Krajmalnik-Brown says. “A big part of my work now is making sure the center is a place where people all over the world want to come to be part of and continue to help junior faculty and help other people succeed. It’s not about me anymore. My impact now is through other people.”