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In 1999, Justin joined the Professor Stephen G. DiMagno research group at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he received a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with a focus on carbon-hydrogen bond activation using modified metalloporphyrins. After completing his graduate work in 2005, he received a National Research Council Post-doctoral Associateship to work in the Dr. Bradley R. Ringeisen group at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He worked within the Biomaterials and Biofabrication section at Naval Research Laboratory for nine years after his post-doctoral associateship on several bioenergy and biomaterial programs as a Senior Research Chemist before coming to the University of Dayton in 2017. 

Currently, his research efforts are focused on understanding fundamental chemical responses and reactivity at biotic and abiotic interfaces in the environment and manipulated in the laboratory. His research programs have applications in the biofuels, energy, sustainability, environmental chemistry, and green chemistry areas.

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Faculty perspective

"The University of Dayton is the ideal learning environment to couple fundamental research with academic excellence in order to prepare students for the future."

Courses taught

• CHM 123: General Chemistry I
• CHM 124: General Chemistry II
• CHM 201: Quantitative Analysis
• CHM 313: Organic Chemistry 1
• CHM 438/538: Sustainability and Chemistry
• CHM 555: Biocatalysis: Fundamentals and Application

Professional affiliations

• 2019: Treasurer, American Chemical Society - Dayton Section
• 2019: Sustainability Scholar, Hanley Sustainability Institute
• 2017: Assistant Professor, University of Dayton, Chemistry Department
• 2008-17: Research Chemist, US Naval Research Laboratory (Promoted to NP IV January 2015)
• 2006-08: National Research Council Post-Doctoral Associate, US Naval Research Laboratory

Research interests

• Synthesis of polyester, polyether, polyurethanes and pH sensitive polymer alternatives
• Demonstration of mechanisms and techniques for the biodegradation of polyurethane coatings by prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms
• Fundamental and applied studies of bacterial and extremophile extracellular electron transfer to insoluble metal nanoparticles to drive organic chemistry transformations
• Transcriptional profiling of bacterial responses to abiotic-biotic interfaces
• Chemical Interactions between abiotic-polymeric interfaces

Recent funding

• Principal Investigator, SERDP, Retrogressive Approach to Determining Fungal Biodegradation Responses and Mechanisms to Polyurethane-based Coatings, Collaboration with AFRL and NRL. $2.06M. FY20-24
• Co-Principal Investigator, 6.1 DARPA, “Carbonate Fixation from the Deep Marine Biosphere”, $186k, FY18-19
• Principal Investigator, 6.1 SERDP SEED, “Assignment of Direct vs. Indirect Mechanisms Used by Fungi for Polyurethane Coating Biodegradation”, total FY17: $200k

Recent selected publications

Barlow, DE., Lu, Q., Biffinger, JC., Hung, CS., Montgomery, M., Gross, J., Roman, V., Wagner, D., Zelik, S., Crookes-Goodson, W., "Comparative biodeterioration at air interfaces of adipate-based polyester polyurethane coatings by fungal microcolonies of Aureobasidium sp. W12" Polymer Degradation and Stability, 2023, 214, 110386, DOI10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2023.110386

Schneider, J., Ove, C., Pirlo, RK, Biffinger, JC., "Synthesis and characterization of thermoplastic poly(piperazine succinate) metallopolymers coordinated to ruthenium(III) or iron(III)" Journal of Polymer Science, 2023, 61 (6), 447-459.  DOI10.1002/pol.20220583

Masthay, M., McLean, J., Santos, A., Pirlo, R., Biffinger, JC., “Calculation of the relative basicity of three 𝛂,⍵-diphenylpolyenes with trifluoroacetic acid”., J. Phys. Org. Chem., 2022, e4412, DOI:10.1002/poc.4412

Shesham, V., Kelly, AL., Burke, W., Crouch, A., Drake, CA., Varaljay, VA., Crookes-Goodson, WJ., Barlow, DE., Masthay, MB., Biffinger, JC., “Comparison of two diphenyl polyenes as acid-sensitive additives during the biodegradation of a thermoset polyester polyurethane coating”, 2022, Journal of Applied Microbiology, 132, 1, 351-364.

Nadeau, LJ., Barlow, DE., Hung, C-S., Biffinger, JC., Crouch, AL., Hollomon, JM., Ecker, CD., Russell Jr., JN., Crookes-Goodson, WJ., “Colonization and degradation of polyurethane coatings by Pseudomonas protegens biofilms is promoted by PueA and PueB hydrolases”. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 2021, 156, 105121.

Johnson, AN., Barlow, DE., Kelly, AL., Varaljay, VA, Crookes-Goodson, WJ., Biffinger, JC., “Current Progress towards understanding the biodegradation of synthetic condensation polymer with active hydrolases”, 2021, Polymer International, 70, 7, 977-983. DOI:10.1002/pi.6131