u n d e r g r a d u a t e . r e s e a r c h.. o p p o r t u n i t i e s

In most natural environments, bacteria live in large, highly organized communities of cells known as biofilms.  Biofilms have been linked to human infections, contamination of aquatic environments, and economic losses in industrial settings, leading to a surge in biofilm research over the past decade. Although work on biofilms is still in its infancy, research on the model organism Myxococcusxanthus has been extremely useful in revealing some of the intricacies of life within a biofilm.  The success of research on this organism can be attributed to the fact that it is easily grown in a laboratory setting, it has multicellular developmental cycle that is rapid and well characterized, and it is amenable to genetic and molecular analyses.  In my research group, we use the biofilm formed by M. xanthus to understand how large groups of cells communicate with one another, and how this cellular dialogue coordinates the temporal and spatial expression developmental genes.

Anthony Garza
212 BRL
443-4746
agarza@syr.edu