[1][2] Her research interests include bioenergetics and cell biology of metabolically diverse, genetically-tractable bacteria.
[6] Newman lived overseas during her childhood and attended West Potomac High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she entered science fairs, winning second place in physics at the International Science and Engineering Fair in 1987.
[3][9] She was a postdoctoral fellow under Roberto Kolter at Harvard Medical School (1998–2000).
Specifically, they take an interdisciplinary approach to studying the molecular mechanisms that underlie ancient forms of metabolism.
By understanding the way extant organisms function at the molecular level, they hope eventually to gain insights into the evolution of ancient metabolic and biomineralization pathways, interpret the chemical signatures of early life found in the geologic record, and understand how multicellular bacterial communities survive in the context of infection, particularly the mucus-filled lungs of individuals living with cystic fibrosis.