Research

The immune system of bacteria

We discovered over 50 new immune systems encoded by bacteria

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Origin of human innate immunity

We discovered that many components of the human cell-autonomous innate immune system evolved from defense systems that protect bacteria from phage infection

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How viruses overcome host immunity

We found that phages can evolve to escape or sequester bacterial defense systems

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Evolutionary links between bacterial and plant immunity

We found parallels between the plant and the bacterial immune systems, involving immune protein domains called “TIR”.

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Communication between viruses

We found that viruses can use small molecule communication to coordinate their infection dynamics and make group decisions 

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Legacy Research: CRISPR-Cas

In the years 2007-2018 we studied how the CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune system of bacteria works 

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Legacy Research: RNA-mediated regulation in microbes

For about a decade, during 2009-2018, we studied how bacteria use non-coding RNAs to regulate their biology

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Legacy Research: Computational discovery of novel natural antibiotics

In the years 2007-2013 we developed a computational method that detects, among a large number of microbial genomes, genes producing products that are toxic to bacteria

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