Our research unit is interested is understanding how microbes interact with their environment on a structural level. We address research questions such as how the cells are able to actively seek out their preferred environmental niches, how they can evade toxins and predators, how they interact with phages, each other and with host tissue, and how they can adapt to thrive in fluctuating environments. In order to gain insight into the structure and function of the molecular complexes underlying these behaviors, we use cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) as our key research tool. This technique allows us to directly visualize microbes in their native state at resolutions capable of examining individual proteins.
More specifically, we are currently pursuing three major research lines in the laboratory:
- Chemotaxis in pathogenic bacteria (Vibrio cholerae and Treponema denticola)
- Bacterial hitchhiking
- Bacterial interactions in changing environments
