Bacteria
Members of the Bacteria research area are broadly interested in understanding how bacteria interact with their environment. We study the physiological processes governing bacterial growth, survival, and responsiveness to environmental pressures such as nutrient availability, competition with other microbes, and antimicrobials. We investigate virulence mechanisms that enable medically relevant bacterial pathogens to colonize their human or animal hosts, cause disease, and transmit. We study how pathogenic bacteria evade, tolerate, and exploit immune defenses as well as how non-pathogenic bacteria establish mutualistic relationships with other microbes and/or their eukaryotic hosts. Finally, we leverage our mechanistic insights to develop new diagnostic methods and therapeutics.
Above: Helicobacter pylori
Manuel Amieva
Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)
My laboratory studies how bacteria colonize our bodies for long periods of time, and how interactions between bacteria and the epithelial surfaces of the gastrointestinal tract and skin may lead to disease. Epithelial surfaces are the first barrier against infection, but they also where our bodies meet and co-evolve with the microbial world.
Matthew Bogyo
Professor of Pathology and, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology
Our laboratory is interested in developing and applying chemical tools to dissect the functional roles of hydrolases in a number of human pathogens and commensal bacteria. We are currently using synthetic chemistry and phage display methods to build new reagents that allow enzyme activity to be slectively inhibited as well as monitored in complex biological samples including cells, tissues and whole organisms.
Paul Bollyky
Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, are abundant in the human body. However, their contributions to human health and disease are largely unknown. The Bollyky Lab studies interactions between phages and both their human and bacterial hosts with the goal of developing innovative strategies to improve human health.
Laura Dassama
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
The Dassama research group performs research at the interface of chemistry and biology, relying on tools of chemistry to probe and explain biological phenomena.
Dylan Dodd
Assistant Professor of Pathology
Our laboratory employs bacterial genetics, metabolomics, and gnotobiotic mouse colonization to uncover the chemistry that underlies host-microbe interactions in the gut.
Alex Gao
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
We integrate computational genome mining with high-throughput experimental approaches to harness the rich diversity of microbial genes, with the goal of developing new antibiotic strategies and molecular biotechnology. A major area of current interest is uncovering novel molecular functions involved in anti-phage defense and bacteria–phage interactions.
Leonor García-Bayona
Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
Our lab seeks to understand how horizontal gene transfer shapes interactions within the human intestinal microbiota and what the implications of this widespread phenomenon are for community properties relevant to human health.
KC Huang
Professor of Bioengineering
We primarily focus on bacteria, in which the exquisite patterning of the interior in both space and time is critical for a wide variety of cellular functions. The wide variety of shapes and sizes that bacteria take on can be used as synthetic environment for studying the establishment of intracellular organization and the cellular response to perturbations in morphology
Christine Jacobs-Wagner
Dennis Cunningham Professor, Professor of Biology
Our lab investigates the unique cellular biology and pathogenic mechanisms of the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi. We also study the antibacterial properties of host defense peptides to uncover new innate immunity adaptations and leverage their therapeutic potential against multidrug resistance.
Denise Monack
Martha Meier Weiland Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
The Monack Lab studies pathogen-microbiota interactions in the gut and has discovered that specific commensal bacteria-derived metabolites help defend against bacteria that cause food poisoning. In addition, the laboratory studies how immune cells recognize pathogenic bacteria that are residing within them.
Antonio Pagán
Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
We are interested in regulation of immunity and pathogenesis in tuberculosis (TB). TB is characterized by the formation of multicellular aggregates of immune cells called granulomas. We leverage genetics and imaging capabilities of genetically diverse fish models of TB, which capture key features of human TB granulomas, to address fundamental questions in mycobacterial pathogenesis and granuloma immunobiology.
Trung Pham
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)
The Pham Lab seeks to uncover mechanisms of tissue immunity and immunophysiology during persistent infection. We may be able to decode the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms that can be harnessed to eradicate infections, promote tissue resilience, and restore health after an infectious insult.
Charles Prober
Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases) and, by courtesy, of Microbiology and Immunology
My research interest is in the epidemiology, pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment of infections in children. Much of this research has focused on viral infections, especially those caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV).
David Relman
Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor
Our lab studies the biogeography, stability, resilience, and in vivo evolution of the human microbiome using experimental and naturally occurring forms of perturbation in human subjects. We seek to understand and predict responses to clinically important causes of disturbance, such as antibiotics, and the implications for human health and disease.
David Schneider
Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
We study innate immunity and microbial pathogenesis. We have been studying models for a variety of bacterial infections including: Listeria, Mycobacteria, Salmonella and Streptococcus as well as some fungi, malaria and viruses. Our current focus is to determine how we recover from infections.
Justin Sonnenburg
Alex and Susie Algard Endowed Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
The goals of our lab are to elucidate the basic mechanisms that underlie dynamics within the gut microbiota and devise and implement strategies to prevent and treat disease in humans via the gut microbiota. We investigate the principles that govern gut microbial community function and interaction with the host using experimental systems ranging from gnotobiotic mice to humans.