Dr. Nicholas Butzin joined the Department of Biology and Microbiology at South Dakota State University in 2017 as an assistant professor. He previously was a research scientist and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut.

The Butzin Lab explores microbial systems using an evolutionary perspective and a synthetic biology approach. His goal is to understand the principles behind robustness in both natural and synthetic microbial systems. He is particularly interested in how individual cells cope with constant fluctuations in natural environments and limited enzymatic resources. Although his lab has several ongoing projects ranging from the development of new robust synthetic circuits to the study of antibiotic resistance and biofilms, all projects utilize synthetic biology to understand natural phenomena or to develop products for industrial and medical applications. His lab uses mathematical and computational approaches along with wet lab experiments to probe and develop a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that generate cellular plasticity and robustness.