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Rohan Balakrishnan

Title: Assistant Professor

Department: Biological Sciences

College: College of Science

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae Link

Education

  • PhD, Ohio State University, 2015
    Major: Biochemistry
    Dissertation: Role of the Conserved GT Pase LepA in Escherichia Coli

Current Scheduled Teaching

No current or future courses scheduled.

Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.

Previous Scheduled Teaching

BIOL 4801.001Microbial GeneticsSpring 2026 Syllabus SPOT
BIOL 2041.002MicrobiologyFall 2025 Syllabus SPOT
BIOL 2041.003MicrobiologyFall 2025 Syllabus SPOT
BIOL 4900.706Special ProblemsFall 2025 Syllabus
BIOL 4801.001Microbial GeneticsSpring 2025 Syllabus SPOT
BIOL 5800.001Microbial GeneticsSpring 2025 SPOT
BIOL 4900.706Special ProblemsSpring 2025 Syllabus
Texas Education Code 51.974 (HB 2504) requires each institution of higher education to make available to the public, a syllabus for undergraduate lecture courses offered for credit by the institution.

Published Intellectual Contributions

    Journal Article

  • Guessous, G., Patsalo, V., Balakrishnan, R., Çağlar, T., Williamson, J.R., Hwa, T. (2023). Inherited chitinases enable sustained growth and rapid dispersal of bacteria from chitin particles. Nature Microbiology. 8 (9) 1695-1705. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01444-5
  • Balakrishnan, R. (2023). Conditionally unutilized proteins and their profound effects on growth and adaptation across microbial species. Current Opinion in Microbiology. 75 102366.
  • Balakrishnan, R., Mori, M., Segota, I., Zhang, Z., Aebersold, R., Ludwig, C., Hwa, T. (2022). Principles of gene regulation quantitatively connect DNA to RNA and proteins in bacteria. Science. 378 (6624) American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abk2066
  • Wu, C., Balakrishnan, R., Braniff, N., Mori, M., Manzanarez, G., Zhang, Z., Hwa, T. (2022). Cellular perception of growth rate and the mechanistic origin of bacterial growth law. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (20) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201585119
  • Balakrishnan, R., de Silva, R.T., Hwa, T., Cremer, J. (2021). Suboptimal resource allocation in changing environments constrains response and growth in bacteria. Other. 17 (12) Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.202110597
  • Dai, X., Zhu, M., Warren, M., Balakrishnan, R., Okano, H., Williamson, J.R., Fredrick, K., Hwa, T., Lee, S.Y. (2018). Slowdown of Translational Elongation in Escherichia coli under Hyperosmotic Stress. mBio. 9 (1) American Society for Microbiology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02375-17
  • Gibbs, M.R., Moon, K., Chen, M., Balakrishnan, R., Foster, L.J., Fredrick, K. (2017). Conserved GTPase LepA (Elongation Factor 4) functions in biogenesis of the 30S subunit of the 70S ribosome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (5) 980-985. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613665114
  • Fleming, I.M., Paris, Z., Gaston, K.W., Balakrishnan, R., Fredrick, K., Rubio, M.A., Alfonzo, J.D. (2016). A tRNA methyltransferase paralog is important for ribosome stability and cell division in Trypanosoma brucei. Scientific Reports. 6 (1) Springer Science and Business Media LLC. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep21438
  • Dai, X., Zhu, M., Warren, M., Balakrishnan, R., Patsalo, V., Okano, H., Williamson, J.R., Fredrick, K., Wang, Y., Hwa, T. (2016). Reduction of translating ribosomes enables Escherichia coli to maintain elongation rates during slow growth. Nature Microbiology. 2 (2) Springer Science and Business Media LLC. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.231
  • Balakrishnan, R., Oman, K., Shoji, S., Bundschuh, R., Fredrick, K. (2014). The conserved GTPase LepA contributes mainly to translation initiation in Escherichia coli. Other. 42 (21) 13370-13383. Oxford University Press (OUP). http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku1098
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Overall
Summative Rating		 Challenge and
Engagement Index		 Response Rate

out of 5
out of 7		 %
of
students responded
  • Overall Summative Rating (median):
    This rating represents the combined responses of students to the four global summative items and is presented to provide an overall index of the class’s quality. Overall summative statements include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 5 = Excellent, 3 = Good, and 1= Very poor):
    • The course as a whole was
    • The course content was
    • The instructor’s contribution to the course was
    • The instructor’s effectiveness in teaching the subject matter was
  • Challenge and Engagement Index:
    This rating combines student responses to several SPOT items relating to how academically challenging students found the course to be and how engaged they were. Challenge and Engagement Index items include the following (response options include a Likert scale ranging from 7 = Much higher, 4 = Average, and 1 = Much lower):
    • Do you expect your grade in this course to be
    • The intellectual challenge presented was
    • The amount of effort you put into this course was
    • The amount of effort to succeed in this course was
    • Your involvement in course (doing assignments, attending classes, etc.) was
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