Research Focus

STUDY SYSTEM: Marine nematode-bacterium symbioses

QUESTIONS & APPROACHES:

• How are host and bacterial immune systems regulated?

- Comparative transcriptomics (mRNA and non-coding RNA) and metabolomics of host symbiotic versus non-symbiotic tissues.

• How do host and symbiont coordinate their reproduction

- Molecular mechanisms of growth and division of symbiont cells (via immunostaining/high-resolution microscopy, and ectopic and vitro expression of symbiont cell division and cytoskeletal proteins)
- Developmental adaptations of the host to inter- and intra-generational symbiont transmission (via host cultivation and microscopic analysis, and comparative transcriptomics of host developmental stages)

Ongoing projects