World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022

Jonathan’s current research applies machine learning approaches to discover novel antibacterial therapies with expanded capabilities over conventional antibiotics.

Jonathan’s current research applies machine learning approaches to discover novel antibacterial therapies with expanded capabilities over conventional antibiotics.

Living in us and on us are trillions of microorganisms; bacteria, fungi, and viruses assemble into complex communities to form the microbiome. Across the biogeography of the human body exists distinct microbial signatures differentiating the gut, oral, airway, and skin microbiomes. Our research is focused on the body’s primary environmental barrier: the skin. We are interested in understanding how microbial communities assemble and interact with each other and their host across the different microenvironments of the skin. A healthy skin microbiome is important to maintain tissue homeostasis and educate the immune system. However, microbial imbalances are also associated with skin disorders and chronic cutaneous infection. We use a highly inter-disciplinary approach that combines high-throughput technologies such as deep sequencing and untargeted metabolomics, with bioinformatics, and wet-lab experimental systems, to elucidate how this balance between beneficial and foreign microbes is maintained at the skin surface and in the context of non-healing chronic wounds.

Living in us and on us are trillions of microorganisms; bacteria, fungi, and viruses assemble into complex communities to form the microbiome. Across the biogeography of the human body exists distinct microbial signatures differentiating the gut, oral, airway, and skin microbiomes. Our research is focused on the body’s primary environmental barrier: the skin. We are interested in understanding how microbial communities assemble and interact with each other and their host across the different microenvironments of the skin. A healthy skin microbiome is important to maintain tissue homeostasis and educate the immune system. However, microbial imbalances are also associated with skin disorders and chronic cutaneous infection. We use a highly inter-disciplinary approach that combines high-throughput technologies such as deep sequencing and untargeted metabolomics, with bioinformatics, and wet-lab experimental systems, to elucidate how this balance between beneficial and foreign microbes is maintained at the skin surface and in the context of non-healing chronic wounds.

Our research focuses on symbiotic associations between animals and microbes. We utilize a cross-disciplinary approach incorporating ecological, evolutionary, genomic, and microbiological approaches to examine how microbes shape the biology of higher organisms. Our main study system is the quadripartite association between fungus-growing ants, their fungal cultivars, mutualistic bacteria, and specialized garden pathogens.

Our research focuses on symbiotic associations between animals and microbes. We utilize a cross-disciplinary approach incorporating ecological, evolutionary, genomic, and microbiological approaches to examine how microbes shape the biology of higher organisms. Our main study system is the quadripartite association between fungus-growing ants, their fungal cultivars, mutualistic bacteria, and specialized garden pathogens.