Theresa K. Hattenrath, Ph.D.

Dr. Hattenrath’s primary area of expertise is in waterborne pathogens, phytoplankton (harmful algal bloom) ecology and molecular biology. Her graduate research focused on assessing the effects of nutrients, community interactions, and ocean acidification on the growth and toxicity of marine dinoflagellates. She is interested in using molecular techniques to rapidly enumerate and identify waterborne pathogens and toxic cyanobacteria to protect human health. She also uses these molecular techniques to describe ecological functions and interactions among these organisms which could aid in the search for mitigation strategies. She has over 15 years of experience in: the establishment and maintenance of phytoplankton and zooplankton cultures as well as the microscopic identification of phytoplankton and various aquatic invertebrates and plants; water, sediment and plankton collection techniques; extraction and analysis (ELISAs and protein phosphatase inhibition assays (PPIA)) of toxins in shellfish and phytoplankton; wet chemistry methods; and various molecular techniques including isolation and purification of DNA/RNA (from bacteria and phytoplankton cultures, environmental samples (water, sediment, gut contents)), primer design, traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), ddPCR, qPCR, gel electrophoresis, cloning, and preparation of samples for Sanger sequencing and next generation sequencing. 

Dr. Hattenrath currently serves as Chief of the Laboratory of Environmental Biology within the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the Wadsworth Center. As Lab Chief, she oversees all accredited laboratory programs and research programs. As the EPA-designated reference laboratory for NY State, her lab group uses a variety of microbiological and molecular techniques to analyze water samples submitted by state agencies and local health departments for organism’s indicative of fecal pollution (thermotolerant coliforms, E. coli, enterococci) and overall water quality (heterotrophic bacteria, total coliforms). The lab group is also heavily involved in Legionella outbreak/emergency response investigations conducted by the Bureau of Water Supply Protection (part of NYS Department of Health’s Center for Environmental Health). In addition to hosting these accredited lab programs, lab members are constantly involved in assessing new methods/technologies for programmatic improvement and rapid detection of microbial contaminants that will act to improve emergency response time for end-users such as local health departments.