Systems biology
of microbial
gene regulation
Our Research
Microbial populations are not homogeneous. Each bacterium has its own pattern of gene expression. We seek to understand this variation, both because of what we can learn from it about the fundamentals of transcription and microbial physiology, and how it contributes to the behaviors and virulence of microbial pathogens.
Welcome to the Pountain lab. We dive deep into transcriptional dynamics to understand microbial life and pathogen behaviors.
Modeling transcriptional heterogeneity
What can expression variation tell us about a microbe's regulatory and physiological state? We use the bacterial replication cycle as a unique model system to infer physiology and molecular regulation directly from transcriptional variation.
Fate decisions in microbial pathogens
What determines how a pathogen interacts with its environment? We dissect the regulatory biology behind the heterogeneous adoption of fast-growing, aggressive states vs stress-tolerant states in microbial pathogens.
