Dr. Susan Godfrey

Genetics
K. Arndt
T.-L. Ashman
G. Campbell
D. Chapman
G. Hatfull
J. Hildebrand
L. Jacobson
S. Kalisz
J. Martens
W. Saunders
B. Stronach
S. Tonsor
R. Wood

Microbiology
J. Boyle
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
J. Lawrence
J. Pipas
M. Popa
R.L. Duda
S. Godfrey
V. Oke

Molecular Biology
K. Arndt
J. Franzen
P. Grabowski
G. Hatfull
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Martens
C. Peebles
J. Pipas
J. Rosenberg
A. Schwacha
C. Walsh

Plant Biology
T.-L. Ashman
W. Carson
S. Kalisz
V. Oke
C. Partanen
S. Tonsor
B. Traw

Science Education
A. Bledsoe
K. Curto
L. Daniels
S. Godfrey
N. Kaufmann
C. LaFave
J. Newman
E. Polinko
M. Popa
L. Roberts
T. Seiflein
R. Sherwin
A. Slinskey Legg

Structural Biology
M. Grabe
J. Hempel
R. Hendrix
L. Jen-Jacobson
J. Rosenberg
A. VanDemark

Former Faculty

Photo of Dr.
Godfrey

Science Education; Microbiology

Lecturer

Dr. Godfrey received her Ph.D. in 1973 with Sol Goodal at the University of Pennsylvania, performed her postdoctoral studies with Norman Curthoys and with Maurice Sussman at the University of Pittsburgh, and joined the Department in 1980.

Currently, Dr. Godfrey is not accepting graduate students in her laboratory. Dr. Godfrey is not accepting undergraduate researchers, and does sponsor students in other laboratories.

Professional Interests - Publications - Contact Information - Lab Personnel

Professional Interests of Susan Godfrey

Dictyostelium In teaching microbiology Dr. Godfrey aims to communicate the role microbes play in world affairs. She wants students to know that microbes are not just "germs", to know that several types of them are more numerous than any other life forms on the planet, that because of their metabolic diversity they can live in places we can't and also serve us, and that without them no other life would continue for long on earth. Every student, no matter what the eventual career choice, will need to understand these things to be a responsible citizen and voter in our increasingly technological world, and to understand the action and risks of biological weapons (which are microbes).

Dr. Godfrey's fascination with microbes grew out of a love of the abstract (we can't see them directly), and, together with a compulsion to mess around in the laboratory, was fostered in her undergraduate research encounter with the classic large scale bacterial DNA purification in which DNA fibers are miraculously and visibly wound onto a U-shaped glass rod as they are precipitated from solution. Her laboratory explorations of microbes have since included:

Study of the differentiation of fruiting bodies in the filamentous fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus (with Dr. Sol Goodgal, Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine)...
... and of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum (with Dr. Maurice Sussman, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh).
Cloning and sequencing of gyrase gene fragments from the archaea Halobacterium halobium and Sulfolobus solfataricus as well as in the eubacterial Arthrobacter spp. from deep soil core samples.
A variety of bacteriophage projects in collaboration with undergraduates and with Dr. Roger Hendrix of this Department.

Oh, and there was an interlude learning the rigors of biochemistry (with Dr. Norm Curthoys, Department of Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine) studying ammonia metabolism in rat kidney. Although rats are not generally considered to be microörganisms, the work was relevant as prokaryotic microbes are often considered to be bags of enzymes.

Curly Phage Dr. Godfrey inadvertently began teaching as a student, having 4 siblings who are curious non-scientists. One thing led to another. Finding that teaching is at least as much fun as doing research, and that microörganisms are a whole lot more fun, varied, peculiar, and entertaining than rats, Dr. Godfrey has since 1980 been teaching microbiology full time in the Department, both in the laboratory and in the lecture hall, with occasional brief intervals of research, undertaken to keep her technical skills and information base up-do-date.

In connection with her teaching of bacteriophage biology, Dr. Godfrey functions as webmaster for the American Society of Microbiology pages for its Division M: Bacteriophage site, which she co-authors with Dr. Hendrix. Bacteriophage aficionados affectionately refer to this site, intended to promote and inform interest in bacteriophage among the public-at-large, as "the HomePhage".

Publication Archive
8 Citations
2 Abstracts
4 PDFs

Recent Publications of Susan Godfrey

Godfrey, S. (1998) An Introduction to Experimental Virology. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

Godfrey, S. (1998) A Microcosm under a cabbage: A supplemental manual for introductory experimental microbiology. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

Godfrey, S., and M. Sussman (1982) The genetics of development in Dictyostelium discoideum. Annu. Rev. Genet. 16:385-404 (PDF Reprint: 1.4 MB)

Curthoys, N.P., and S.S. Godrey (1977) Properties of rat kidney glutaminase enzymes and their role in renal ammoniagenesis. Pp 346-356 in Renal Metabolism in Relation to Kidney Function, Schmidt, U., and U.C. Dubach, Ed. Hans Huber Publishing, Bern

Godfrey, S.S., T. Kuhlenschmidt, and N.P. Curthoys (1977) Correlation between activation and dimer formation of rat renal phosphate-dependent glutaminase. J. Biol. Chem. 252:1927-1931 (PDF Reprint: 952 kb)

Curthoys, N.P., T. Kulenschinidt, and S.S. Godfrey (1976) Regulation of renal ammoniagenesis: Purification and characterization of phosphate-dependent glutaminase from rat kidney. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 174:82-89 (PDF Reprint: 767 kb)

Curthoys, N.P., and S.S. Godfrey (1976) Properties of rat kidney glutaminase enzymes and their role in renal ammoniagenesis. Curr. Probl. Clin. Biochem. 6:346-356

Curthoys, N.P., T. Kuhlenschmidt, S.S. Godfrey, and R.F. Weiss (1976) Phosphate-dependent glutaminase from rat kidney. Cause of increased activity in response to acidosis and identity with glutaminase from other tissues. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 172:162-167 (PDF Reprint: 568 kb)

How to Contact Susan Godfrey

US Mail
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Biological Sciences
327A Clapp Hall
4249 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone, FAX, Internet
Office : (412) 624-4254
Lab : (412) 624-4254
FAX : (412) 624-4759
Email : ssg1+@pitt.edu
Web : http://www.pitt.edu/~ssg1/

This Site is maintained by the Bioscience Webmaster; this page was last modified 5 October 2008