Efflux Pumps provide a direct mechanism to alleviate product toxicity (Image prepared by Everett Kaplan (JBEI)
We are an interdisciplinary team studying signaling and stress response in both environmental and engineered organisms.
We are part of the ENIGMA project where our research includes the study of two component signaling the model sulfate reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough. As part of the Joint BioEnergy Institute we adopt targeted and systems biology approaches to elucidate causes of inhibition during fuel production from lignocellulose using the host microbes such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We hope to engineer better hosts for fuel production and develop tools that are universally useful for microbial cellular engineering. Recently we have also become interested in studying signaling and response in cyanobacteria that dominate desert soil crusts.
