I am a molecular microbiologist interested in cellular biology of bacterial competition systems. Bacteria live in communities consisting of many different species with a wide variety of physiological traits (which can be easily genetically manipulated) and allow for entire ecosystems to be reproducibly experimented with in the lab, making them ideal model organisms for investigating the effects of physiology on ecological interactions. Environmental parameters such as the availability of nutrients, and physiological traits, like motility, preferences for nutrients and their acquisition, and other behaviours such as biofilm formation influence how bacteria compete with each other. I am interested in understanding how individual bacteria, as a well as populations, coordinate the expression and production of cellular traits involved in competition including offensive weapons, defensive biofilm formation, motility apparatus and metabolic modules.
