Rok Tkavc, Ph.D.
Rok Tkavc, Ph.D.

Name: Rok Tkavc, Ph.D.
Research Interests:
Neissria gonorrhoeae, antimicrobial peptides,
Deinococcus radiodurans, radiation resistance, mycology
Education
PhD in Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2007–2012
MSc (Eq. degree) in Microbiology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2002–2007
Representative publications, projects, and/or deployments
- Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pathology (USU) 2017–present
- “Edible Mushrooms and Ionizing Radiation – Fungal Survival and Post-Exposure Fruiting”, Slovenian Research Agency, PI: Tine Grebenc (National Forestry Institute), Co-PI: Rok Tkavc (USU).
- USU Post-Doctoral Society 2013–present
- USUHS Authorized Independent Irradiator Operator 2012–present
- FEMS Meeting Attendance Grant 2011
- Grand Prize, iGEM, MIT, Cambridge, MA 2006
Bibliography
- Tkavc et al, 2018. Prospects for fungal bioremediation of acidic radioactive waste sites: characterization and genome sequence of Rhodotorula taiwanens MD1149. Frontiers in Microbiology, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02528.
- Shuryak, ..., Tkavc et al, 2017. Microbial cells can cooperate to resist high-level chronic ionizing radiation. PLOS ONE, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189261.
- Sharma, ..., Tkavc et al, 2017. Across the Tree of Life, Radiation Resistance is Governed by Antioxidant Mn2+, Gauged by Paramagnetic Resonance. PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1713608114
- Matrosova,..., Tkavc et al, 2017. High-quality genome sequence of the radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus ficus KS 0460. Standards in genomic sciences, doi: 10.1186/s40793-017-0258-y.
- Klubo-Gwiezdzinska,..., Tkavc et al, 2017. Amifostine used clinically for salivary gland protection during therapy with radioiodine is cytotoxic for thyroid cancer cells. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. doi: 10.1530/EC-17-0138.
- Zajc, ..., Tkavc et al, 2014. Chaophilic or chaotolerant fungi: a new category of extremophiles? Frontiers in microbiology, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2014.00708
- Herzog-Velikonja, Tkavc et al, 2014. Diversity of cultivable bacteria involved in the formation of macroscopic microbial colonies (cave silver) on the walls of a cave in Slovenia. International journal of speleology, doi: 10.5038/1827-806X.43.1.5.
- Cantrell, Tkavc et al, 2013. Fungal communities of young and mature hypersaline microbial mats. Mycologia, doi: 10.3852/12-288.
- Tkavc et al, 2011. Bacteria associated with Artemia spp. along the salinity gradient of the solar salterns at Eilat (Israel). FEMS Microbiology Ecology, doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01112.x.
- Tkavc et al, 2011. Bacterial communities in the 'petola' microbial mat from the Sečovlje salterns (Slovenia). FEMS Microbiology Ecology, doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.00985.x.