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When  came to Moorhead State College in 1971, he had no idea what he wanted to study, but he knew he wanted to avoid chemistry at all costs. He might have wanted to skip it, but chemistry had a plan for him and his future.

After kicking around various departments, Rod settled in the biology department where his work and friendships with professors helped him grow and find his way. Dr. Tom Collins was his academic advisor, and Dr. Robert Weibust encouraged him to get involved in research. While Rod initially struggled with memorizing facts, he learned to understand material when taking Dr. Dewey Brummond's biochemistry class.

As a research student, he was entrusted with the keys to King Hall, a move that proved invaluable as they really became the keys to his future. Initially an average student, Rod is quick to note tit was the experiences he had in the biology department, guidance from faculty, and his work in research and fascination with biology that framed his future successes.

After graduating in 1976, Rod applied to work as a chemist for a sugar beet lab but wasn't hired, so instead, he went to North Dakota State University, where he received the last assistantship that year, joining a program where he had to figure out everything on his own. In 1979, he earned his master's in bacteriology and then went on to do his doctoral work in microbiology at Kansas State. Rod found himself, again, in a lab - this time genetics, where he had to figure out everything. Those undergraduate opportunities to learn how to understand complex ideas, systems and research, rather than simply memorizing facts, prepared him well for both of these lab experiences.

Rod's bacteriology expertise helped him to understand how staphyloccolal (staph bacteria) toxins were transported out of the pathogenic cells so they could target human cells. Rod earned his Ph.D. in 1982, then continued his research in toxins by joining John Collier's lab at the University of California Los Angeles for his postdoctoral work.

He accepted a one-year job in his industry until he got a faculty position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, where he has been ever since, currently holding the J.J. Ferretti Endowed Chair. He has also been awarded the George Lyn Cross Research Professor and Presidential Professor titles.

Rod's groundbreaking work on pore-forming toxins from pathogenic bacteria has led to the understanding of the fundamental mechanism by which these toxins form pores in cells, which cause them to burst. He has worked continuously on these toxins and has been funded by NIH for over 29 years, also earning an NIH merit award for his work.

Interestingly, these pores and the mechanism by which they are built are critical for our immune system's ability to target bacteria, an immune system process called Complement, in which the body's immune system attacks bacteria, almost as if with hand grenades, causing them to explode. Recently he has found a distantly related family of pore-forming toxins in human and gut microbiomes. His work offers promise into vaccine development against Streptococcus pneumonia, and even in developing targeted treatments for certain types of cancer cells (glialblastoma) and other diseases where these pore-forming toxins' involvement could be targeted and destroyed.

His career has been and continues to be vitally important to the study of the biology and biochemistry of bacterial protein toxins.

Elected into the highly prestigious National Academy of Sciences in April 2025 for "recognition of [his] distinguished and continuing achievements in original research," Rod has an impressive list of achievements, which also include being a recipient of a National Institute of Health (NIAID) Merit Award and named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

But through all this success, Rod hasn't lost sight of how a career like this occurs. He notes that he "feels incredibly lucky, or serendipitous, to have had the successes and crucial research findings that I've had. But really, I've been fortunate to have good people around me all the way, beginning with my experience in the biology department at Minnesota State Moorhead."

Rod carries that collaborative spirit with colleagues and students across all these many roles and successes. 

For example, he developed a graduate-level class to help students build their qualifying exams research and to learn how to write stronger research grants. Having failed to receive the first round of grants he applied for, Rod learned to write more clearly and then brought that to students to help them overcome this stumbling block.

Despite his many accolades, Rod says," I'm really just a detective at heart, and I can't bear to not solve the latest scientific puzzle in front of me."

Congratulations and many thanks to Dr Rodney Tweten, Moorhead class of 1976, for your immense success at important puzzle solving throughout your career.