Rachel Poretsky
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Biography
Rachel Poretsky
Rachel Poretsky, UIC associate professor of biological sciences, has dedicated her career to understanding microbes and their impact on other lifeforms and the environment. She and her laboratory team track the presence of the virus that causes COVID-19 as well as other microbes and microbial genes in wastewater. They study how microbes in Lake Michigan cycle carbon. They also investigate microbe-host interactions in humans, fish and other organisms.
Poretsky can provide in-depth analysis of how microbial ecology, bacterial diversity, the human microbiome, and the community structure and interaction of microbes affect real-world outcomes. Her work has been funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, the Illinois-Indiana SeaGrant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others.
