September 20, 1999
New Faculty
Karen Ottemann
Assistant Professor, Biology/Environmental Toxicology
Karen Ottemann studies the mechanisms used by disease-causing bacteria to sense and
respond to their environments, both inside and outside the animals they infect. Her
current studies focus on how the ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori colonizes
the stomach. Eventually, her research may lead to the development of more effective
antibiotics. Ottemann received her B.S. in bacteriology from UC Davis and her Ph.D.
in microbiology and molecular genetics from Harvard University. Before joining the
UCSC faculty, she was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley.
William G. Scott
Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
William Scott is affiliated with the Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA and
is working to understand the structure and function of complex RNA molecules. He
is particularly interested in RNA molecules that have enzymatic activity and in understanding
how proteins and drugs interact with RNA. Scott received B.S. degrees from Bates
College and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. Before joining the UCSC faculty in 1998,
he was a postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge,
England, and, briefly, an assistant professor at Indiana University.
