Welcome to the Wingreen Lab

Biological modeling; molecular biophysics; intracellular networks; intracellular phase separation; systems immunology

Microbial Communities: Biofilms, surface-attached communities of bacteria encased in an extracellular matrix, are a major mode of bacterial life. We collaborate with the Bassler and Stone labs at Princeton to study many aspects of biofilms, from their formation and maturation to their eventual disassembly, mostly using Vibrio cholerae as a model organism. The detailed experimental observations on biofilms call for biophysical modeling, and to this end we have developed both agent-based and a continuum models that capture the distinct stages of the biofilm lifecycle. We also collaborate with the Shaevitz lab in studies of activity-driven pattern formation by the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, which aggregates and forms fruiting bodies in response to starvation, and with the Gitai lab on how bacterial community morphology influences collective behavior. Finally, we are broadly interested in microbial diversity – why are there so many different species in essentially ever microbiota? We collaborate with the Donia lab to better understand the ecology of microbes in nature.

Read more: Wingreen Lab Research