Microbial Cooperation Lab
Researcher
Robert P. Smith, Ph.D.Digital Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Click Here to view the works and career accomplishments of Robert Smith.
Research Focus
We are interested in understanding how cooperation between bacteria regulates pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance. Currently, we are studying how perturbations to spatial structure enhances, or reduces, the expression of virulence factors in opportunistic pathogens. We are also studying how populations of bacteria can work as a collective to resist antibiotics. Our research uses a combination of approaches including experimentation, computation, and mathematical modeling.
Research Activities
- Microbial cooperation
- Antibiotic resistance
- Pathogenesis
- Spatial structure
Laboratory Social Media
“The ongoing evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses one of the greatest threats to public health. Understanding the mechanisms that increase resistance, especially those that occur between individual bacteria, can lead to new treatment methods that many enhance the efficacy of existing antibiotics, or lead to the development of new drugs.”
-Robert P. Smith, Ph.D.