Rate My Professor Rosy Krajmalnik-Brown

Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown is a professor of environmental engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. She serves as director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes and holds additional affiliations with the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, the School of Life Sciences, and the College of Health Solutions. Krajmalnik-Brown earned an undergraduate degree in industrial biochemical engineering from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City. She pursued master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she earned her first patent for a gene encoding an enzyme used in bioremediation. She joined Arizona State University as a postdoctoral researcher nearly 20 years ago and has advanced to her current professorial role. Her career has bridged environmental engineering with human health applications, including bioremediation of contaminated water and soil using microbial systems.

Krajmalnik-Brown’s research specializes in environmental biotechnology, microbial ecology, and the human gut microbiome. She investigates microbial communities for bioenergy production, toxic compound degradation, and their roles in obesity, metabolism, autism spectrum disorders, and gut-brain interactions. Notable contributions include collaborations on microbiota transfer therapy, demonstrating long-term improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms and autism behaviors in children, as detailed in key publications such as “Microbiota Transfer Therapy alters gut ecosystem and improves gastrointestinal and autism symptoms” (2017) and “Long-term benefit of Microbiota Transfer Therapy on autism symptoms and gut microbiota” (2019). She has authored over 130 peer-reviewed articles, holds more than 40 issued patents, and cofounded Gut-Brain-Axis Therapeutics Inc. Awards include the NSF CAREER Award (2011), Phoenix Business Journal’s “40 under 40” recognition, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (2019), and election as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Her work has advanced diagnostic methods for autism via blood and urine samples and fostered interdisciplinary microbiome research impacting health and environmental solutions.