LabCompass

James B. McKinlay

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Indiana University

OpenAlex ORCID
Mid career · publishing since 2003Rising activity
Microbial Metabolic Engineering and BioproductionMicrobial Community Ecology and PhysiologyMicrobial Fuel Cells and BioremediationEvolution and Genetic DynamicsBacterial Genetics and Biotechnology

Publications

81

Citations

3,462

Est. group size

~1

Recurring co-author estimate

Active years

24

Publishing since 2003

Research summary
AI-generated

James B. McKinlay studies how bacteria manage their metabolism, including how they exchange nutrients with one another (a process called cross-feeding), why they release certain chemical byproducts, and how they process carbon and nitrogen. Much of the work uses model bacteria such as Rhodopseudomonas palustris, Vibrio, and Zymomonas to understand metabolic engineering and microbial interactions relevant to biofuel and bioproduct production.

Microbial metabolism and engineeringBacterial cross-feeding and metabolite exchangeCarbon and nitrogen processing in bacteriaEvolution of microbial metabolic traitsBioproduction (e.g., bio-ethanol, biofuels)

Publication activity has been fairly steady overall, with a slight dip around 2021–2022 followed by a return to roughly five to six papers per year.

Generated by claude-opus-4-8 from public bibliographic data · Jul 9, 2026

Funding
Public award records

No award with a current end date on record.

1 earlier award
  • NSF 1749489Jan 2018 – Dec 2024 · $1.1M awarded

    CAREER: The impact of spatial-positioning mechanisms on the metabolic interactions and emergent properties of synthetic bacterial communities

Matched to public NIH RePORTER and NSF records by name and institution. Awards from other agencies are not shown, and a match is not always found — this list may be incomplete.

In context
Among 1,763 mid career Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology PIs within our index
Citations: 3,462cohort median 815
h-index: 28cohort median 12
Publications / year (recent): 4.6cohort median 3.2

Typically publishes in teams of ~4 · 43% small-team papers (≤3 authors) · across 22 venues

Publication cadence
Publications per year over the last 10 years — averaging 4.6/year recently
2017: 7 publications172018: 9 publications9182019: 7 publications192020: 6 publications202021: 2 publications212022: 2 publications222023: 6 publications232024: 5 publications242025: 6 publications252026: 4 publications26
Collaborators per year
Distinct co-authors at Indiana University each year — a rough indication of whether the group around this researcher has been growing or contracting. An estimate from co-authorship, not a roster: collaborators are not necessarily lab members, and recent years can be under-counted while indexing catches up.
2017: 0 collaborators at the same institution2018: 0 collaborators at the same institution2019: 5 collaborators at the same institution2020: 0 collaborators at the same institution2021: 0 collaborators at the same institution2022: 0 collaborators at the same institution2023: 0 collaborators at the same institution2024: 3 collaborators at the same institution2025: 3 collaborators at the same institution1719212325
Recent publications
Publishes in
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)×22
  • Applied and Environmental Microbiology×7
  • The ISME Journal×4
  • mBio×3
  • FEMS Microbiology Letters×2
Similar researchers
By research-topic overlap
  • Alekhya Govindaraju

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Indiana University

  • Xiaoxia Nina Lin

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · University of Michigan

  • Bradley W. Biggs

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · University of Michigan

  • Breah LaSarre

    Environmental Science · Indiana University

  • Birgit E. Alber

    Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · The Ohio State University

This profile was generated automatically from public scholarly data (OpenAlex). Group size and activity levels are estimates derived from co-authorship patterns.

Last updated Sep 1, 2026.

Claim or correct this profile