Microbial Physiology and Ecology Faculty

Casey Bergman Associate Professor Bioinformatics; Genetics Website

Holly Bik Assistant Professor Marine Sciences, Bioinformatics Invertebrate microbiomes; nematode ecology and evolution; benthic and deep-sea habitats; using environmental DNA for biomonitoring Website

Blake Billmyre Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Department/Infectious Diseases Department High throughput genetics to better understand evolution of fungal pathogens and drive antifungal drug discovery. Website

Carmen Blubaugh Assistant Professor Entomology Biodiversity; insect ecology; the role of soil microbes and defensive plant chemistry in plant/herbivore interactions, predator/prey interactions; sustainable agriculture Website

Anny Chung Assistant Professor Plant Biology Plant population and community ecology; plant-microbe interactions, global change biology; microbial ecology Website

Natalie Cohen Assistant Professor Marine Sciences, Bioinformatics Marine microbial ecology; phytoplankton physiology; ocean biogeochemistry; environmental bioinformatics Website

Diana Downs Distinguished Research Professor Microbiology Bacterial physiology and metabolic integration using biochemical, genetic and metabolomics approaches. Website

Mark A. Eiteman Professor Microbiology Fermentation and biotechnology with emphasis on microbial processes to generate fuels and chemicals; nutrient-limited processes; central metabolism and the effect of redox constraints. Website

Courtney Ellison Assistant Professor Microbiology Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, dynamics of bacterial nanomachines, microbial subcellular organization. Website

Jorge Escalante-Semerena UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Microbiology Prokaryotic metabolism and physiology with emphasis on protein acetylation, toxic metabolites, and complex metabolic pathway analysis, integration. Website

Jonathan Frye Research Microbiologist Microbiology We investigate the development and spread of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella, which is the most prevalent foodborne bacterial illness in the U.S. Website

David Garfinkel Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Retrovirus-like transposons in budding yeast, control of transposition, restriction factors. Website

Eric T. Harvill Professor Infectious Diseases Interactions between microbial pathogens and host immunity in the mouse model using bacteria that naturally infect mice and closely related strains that are important human pathogens. Website

Kelly M. Hines Assistant Professor Chemistry Lipidomic and metabolomic analyses of antimicrobial resistant pathogens using ion mobility and mass spectrometry Website

Tim Hoover Professor Microbiology Gene regulation in bacteria; regulation of flagellar biogenesis; control of RpoN-dependent transcription in bacteria. Website

Anna Karls Associate Professor Microbiology Mechanisms for microbial adaptation and virulence; specialized DNA recombination in Neisseria meningitidis & N. gonorrhoeae; sigma54 regulon in Salmonella Typhimurium. Website

Brian Kvitko Associate Professor Microbiology Molecular mechanisms of plant immune action and bacterial pathogen virulence in model and crop pathosystems. Tool/technique development for phytopathogenesis systems biology and translational research. Website

Eric Lafontaine Professor ILS Graduate Coordinator Infectious Diseases Bacterial pathogenesis; role of adhesins in virulence; vaccine development. Website

Zachary Lewis Associate Professor Microbiology Chromatin structure and function; Epigenetics; Eukaryotic genome stability; Histone H1. Website

Xiaorong Lin Professor Microbiology; Plant Biology Human fungal pathogens, sexual reproduction and development in fungal pathogenesis Website

Erin K. Lipp Professor Microbiology Environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, marine systems, water quality and public health, disease ecology Website

Rob Maier Professor Microbiology Physiology and metallobiology of pathogenic bacteria. Website

Cory Momany Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences X-ray crystallography of macromolecules, prokaryotic transcriptional regulators. Website

Michelle Momany Professor Plant Biology Cellular and molecular biology of polar growth in fungi. Website

Silvia Moreno Professor Cellular Biology Metabolism and drug development against protozoan parasites. Calcium signaling and storage in Toxoplasma gondii. Website

Ellen Neidle Professor Microbiology We use the easy genetic system of a  soil bacterium, Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1,to study diverse aspects of gene expression and chromosomal rearrangements.This research has implications for medical issues (gene amplification), environmental issues (bioremediation), biotechnology/bioenergy (conversion of lignin to biofuels), and evolution (new methods for experimental evolution). Website

Kerry Oliver Associate Professor Entomology Ecology and evolution of heritable symbiosis in insects. Website

Elizabeth Ottesen Assistant Professor Microbiology Ecology and physiology of environmental microbes. The use of community genomics and transcriptomics to examine microbial behavior in natural systems. Website

Jaclyn Saunders Assistant Professor Marine Sciences Marine microbial ecology and evolution; oceanography, biogeochemistry, astrobiology, bioinformatics, big data analytics in environmental science Website

Nikki Shariat Assistant Professor Population Health; Microbiology Molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens using metagenomics; ecology of Salmonella serovars in host animals and environments. Website

Vincent Starai Associate Professor Infectious Diseases; Microbiology Bacterial modulation of eukaryotic membrane dynamics for intracellular survival; SNARE-dependent membrane fusion biochemistry. Website

Anne Summers Professor Microbiology; Toxicology Environmental stress biology, using biochemical, biophysical, and ‘omics approaches to define the roles of toxic metal exposure in chronic and infectious diseases. Website

Christine Szymanski Professor Microbiology Microbial glycobiology lab characterizing bacterial glycoconjugate pathways, bacteriophage interactions with their hosts, and benefits of human milk oligosaccharides to develop novel vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention of diarrheal diseases and post-infectious neuropathies such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Website

Michael Terns Distinguished Research Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Genetics; Microbiology We study CRISPR-Cas immune systems that protect prokaryotes from viruses and provide powerful research tools for important biotechnology and biomedical applications. Website

M. Stephen Trent UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor Infectious Diseases Characterizing the assembly of bacterial surface structures, Development of vaccines for viral and bacterial pathogens, Systems approaches to understanding microbial diseases Website

Chelsey VanDrisse Assistant Professor, Genetics Department Our lab seeks to uncover novel regulatory mechanisms of biofilm formation to undermine bacterial survival in chronic infections. Website

Jason Wallace Associate Professor Bioinformatics Quantitative genetics, crop genomics, crop-microbiome interactions. Website