We study bacterial RNA polymerase function and regulation.

The Beckham lab is a dynamic multidisciplinary laboratory that studies viral pathogenesis and neuroimmune responses.

The Thinwa lab studies neurotropic viruses, host defense pathways, autophagy and brain development.

The Wu Laboratory mainly focuses on using human primary nasal and oral epithelium culture to gain novel insights in virus-host interactions.

We are broadly interested in understanding how resident intestinal microorganisms (particularly bacteria and fungi and collectively referred to as the gut microbiome) influence the health of human cancer and stem cell transplant patients.

Bacteria and phages are in everlasting conflict – constantly devising new genes, systems, and mechanisms to keep pace with their competitors. The Forsberg lab studies this “evolutionary arms race”, using high-powered selections to unearth new functions and careful experiments to reveal their mechanisms.

Our primary research interest is to understand the emerging roles of the “unannotated genome,” which encodes a whole new class of uncharacterized microproteins. We focus on the relevance and function of this “dark proteome” in regulating development and disease.

We study bacterial colonization of the intestinal tract, to understand how both benign and pathological bacteria affect their environment. Our long-term goal is to treat intestinal diseases by genetically engineering bacteria in vivo.

Our goal is to track the signaling dynamics of individual effectors and toxins in living cells, using a combination of fluorescent genetic reporters, microinjection of labeled bacterial proteins, and live cell imaging techniques. 

Our research is driven by a desire to understand how these microscopic machines both replicate themselves and, at the same time, manage to evade, manipulate, and counter a myriad of host defenses.