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[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_text_color=”#000000″ custom_margin_tablet=”||||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”|0px||0px|false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” custom_padding_phone=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Disease-causing germs and waterborne microbes bunched together in communities known as biofilms can be harmful in pipes. As solo swimmers, those same bacteria can be innocuous.<\/p>\n
Drew Bridges<\/a><\/span>, assistant professor of biological sciences<\/a><\/span>, investigates how bacteria respond to extracellular sensory information to make developmental decisions.<\/p>\n Bacteria can distinguish \u201cself\u201d from \u201cnon-self\u201d when deciding whether to form biofilms, Bridges said. For example, when signaling molecules produced by closely related species are detected, bacteria commit to forming biofilms. But when signals from competing bacteria are detected, these same bacteria exit biofilms.<\/p>\n Understanding how and why bacteria respond to certain stimuli could have applications in the treatment of disease, food production, water purification or other industrial settings.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, the antibiotics we use just kill bacteria, but bacteria evolve in ways that allow for resistance,\u201d said Bridges, who joined Carnegie Mellon in 2022. \u201cA strategy to change their behaviors rather than just kill them could have many implications.\u201d<\/p>\n Bridges studied cell biology as a doctoral student at Dartmouth. Afterwards, he pivoted to microbiology.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing time to be a biologist or a person in biomedicine because of the ability to sequence genomes and the pace that we can do research,\u201d Bridges said.<\/p>\n He joined the Center for the Physics of Biological Function at Princeton University as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow of the Damon Runyan Cancer Research Foundation in 2017.<\/p>\n At Princeton he studied cell-to-cell communication in the bacteria that causes cholera, Vibrio cholerae<\/em>, and how that communication affects whether the bacteria grow into a biofilm or stay as single-celled organisms. Bridges pioneered new imaging approaches combined with techniques from genetics, biochemistry and biophysics theory to visualize, in real-time, the biofilm life cycle of V. cholerae<\/em> and identify important steps for how V. cholerae<\/em> biofilms disperse.<\/p>\n For his efforts, he was named a finalist for the 2022 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Heidi Opdyke<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ background_enable_image=”off” parallax=”on” custom_padding=”20px|0px|3px|0px|false|false” top_divider_color=”#00687F” top_divider_height=”20px” top_divider_repeat=”1x” top_divider_flip=”vertical” bottom_divider_height=”72px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,2_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ animation_style=”slide” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|true|true” border_width_right=”3px” border_color_right=”#adbaff” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/magazine.mcs.cmu.edu\/bio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/06\/2022_new-faculty-en-cai.jpg” alt=”photo of En Cai in a lab” title_text=”En Cai” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_color=”off” transform_translate=”25px|0px” transform_translate_linked=”off” animation_direction=”left” border_radii=”on|500px|500px|500px|500px” border_width_top=”3px” border_color_top=”#231f20″ border_width_right=”3px” border_color_right=”#adbaff” border_width_bottom=”3px” border_color_bottom=”#adbaff” border_width_left=”3px” border_color_left=”#231f20″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/labs.bio.cmu.edu\/cai\/” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”Visit Cai Lab’s Website” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”12px” button_text_color=”#FFFFFF” button_bg_color=”#231f20″ button_border_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” button_border_radius=”21px” button_font=”|600|||||||” background_layout=”dark” animation_style=”fade” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”|600|||||||” header_text_color=”#231f20″ header_font_size=”36px” header_2_font=”|300|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#ffffff” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”|||15px|false|false” inline_fonts=”Trebuchet” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_text_color=”#000000″ custom_margin_tablet=”||||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”|0px||0px|false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” custom_padding_phone=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” hover_enabled=”0″ border_radii=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]Assistant Professor En Cai<\/a><\/span> specializes in T-cell research. She is using cutting-edge imaging techniques to discover how T-cells\u2019 activation and inhibition mechanisms respond to the outside environment. She hopes that her findings will allow for T-cells to be specifically activated to target cancer cells.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes T-cells fail to attack cancer cells, and that is because the tumor environment makes them unable to do that,\u201d Cai said. \u201cWe want to understand how the environment has an effect on T-cells and how we can restore this mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n In her previous research, Cai found that T-cells have microvilli, finger-like protrusions formed on their surfaces, that reach out into the environment and communicate with cells carrying antigens as well as other T-cells. She said she wants to collaborate with other labs at CMU so she can apply a wide range of skillsets and knowledge, such as tissue engineering and high throughput imaging processing and feature recognition, in her lab to enhance her research. <\/p>\n \u201cOur lab is using a multidisciplinary approach to understand the immune system and how the immune system helps us to be healthy,\u201d Cai said. \u201cIf somebody is interested in that type of research, I\u2019m very happy to work with them. I hope that my lab will have a lot of different expertise from immunology, biology, chemistry, physics and biophysics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u25a0 Kirsten Heuring<\/em>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ background_enable_color=”off” background_enable_image=”off” parallax=”on” custom_padding=”20px|0px|8px|0px|false|false” top_divider_color=”#00687F” top_divider_height=”20px” top_divider_repeat=”1x” top_divider_flip=”vertical” bottom_divider_height=”72px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,2_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ animation_style=”slide” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|true|true” border_width_right=”3px” border_color_right=”#adbaff” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/magazine.mcs.cmu.edu\/bio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/07\/Kuang_Zheng2.jpg” alt=”photo of Zheng Kuang” title_text=”Zheng Kuang” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_color=”off” transform_translate=”25px|0px” transform_translate_linked=”off” animation_direction=”left” border_radii=”on|500px|500px|500px|500px” border_width_top=”3px” border_color_top=”#231f20″ border_width_right=”3px” border_color_right=”#adbaff” border_width_bottom=”3px” border_color_bottom=”#adbaff” border_width_left=”3px” border_color_left=”#231f20″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/labs.bio.cmu.edu\/kuang\/” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”Visit Kuang Lab’s Website” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”12px” button_text_color=”#FFFFFF” button_bg_color=”#231f20″ button_border_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” button_border_radius=”21px” button_font=”|600|||||||” background_layout=”dark” animation_style=”fade” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”|600|||||||” header_text_color=”#231f20″ header_font_size=”36px” header_2_font=”|300|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#ffffff” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”|||15px|false|false” inline_fonts=”Trebuchet” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\nEn Cai<\/h1>\n
Zheng Kuang<\/h1>\n