We are interested in the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping bacteriophage genomes, and engineering phage genomes as tools for molecular biology.
We use laboratory work and bioinformatics to understand how different genomic parts of the virus affect the virus as a whole, their bacterial hosts, and the microbiomes they exist in.
We work by analyzing genomes in silico, synthesizing them in vitro, and generally dissecting and reassembling phages - specifically single-stranded DNA phages of the family Microviridae.
Currently, our focus lies on studying the interaction of microviruses with bacterial hosts and competition with other phages, as well as exploring microvirus diversity in humans and elsewhere.
In the future, we hope to leverage knowledge gained from this research into building customized phages for phage therapy and ecosystem engineering.
A.K.A. the Howard Ochman & Nancy Moran Lab alumni reunion in lovely Austin Texas.
Lead author Dr. Pavol Bardy from Prof. Fred Antson's lab at the University of York publishes a beautiful new paper in mBio, and we were lucky enough to collaborate with them on this project!
With the coming spring 2025 semester, three new lab members are joining us!
The lab has successfully made our move into LSE006, our new space for years to come.