2007 Public Lecture Series - Science at Your Service

Ellen Braun-Howland, Ph.D.

Dr. Braun-Howland was awarded her doctorate in biology in 1982 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she studied the ecology of the waterborne pathogen, Legionella pneumophila. She pursued postdoctoral studies at the University of Oslo, Norway, and Rensselaer before joining the Wadsworth Center in 1993. Dr. Braun-Howland currently serves as the director of the Environmental Biology Laboratory, the EPA-designated reference laboratory in New York for drinking water microbiology. Her laboratory is also responsible for administering the Environmental Laboratory Approval Program's semiannual water bacteriology proficiency test, required of laboratories testing drinking and non-potable waters in the state. In addition to routinely testing New York's waters for bacteria and pathogenic protozoa, her laboratory investigates rapid methods for the detection of waterborne pathogens using both classical and molecular-based techniques. Current areas of research include real-time detection of bacterial indicator organisms in recreational waters, the survival of pathogenic bacteria in biofilms, and the rapid detection of toxic cyanobacteria in surface waters.