Research

Research interests

Broadly speaking, I am interested in microbial interactions. My research interests span the fields of microbial genetics, ecology, and chemical engineering. Below I summarize the focus of my current research.

Studying microbial interactions

Microwell Arrays

This work uses microwell arrays that allow for high-throughput screening of microbe-microbe interactions and retrieval of the bacteria within microwells of interest. This retrieval capability allows follow-up genetic and phenotypic characterization of the cells within targeted microwells.

Photodegradable Hydrogels

This new technology allows us to efficiently screen over a hundred thousand microbial interactions in order to identify either the genetic factors influencing microbial interactions or strains influencing the performance of a focal individual.

Bacterial Policing

This work looks at the dynamics between bacterial cheaters and cooperators and tries to elucidate the mechanisms that cooperators have employed as policing strategies to prevent cheaters from taking over the system.

Publications

Fattahi, N., Nieves-Otero, P. A., Masigol, M., van der Vlies, A. J., Jensen, R. S., Hansen, R. R., & Platt, T. G. (2020). Photodegradable Hydrogels for Rapid Screening, Isolation, and Genetic Characterization of Bacteria with Rare Phenotypes. Biomacromolecules, 21(8): 3140-3151.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00543

van der Vlies, A.J., Barua, N., Nieves-Otero, P.A., Platt, T.G. and Hansen, R.R. (2018): On Demand Release and Retrieval of Bacteria from Microwell Arrays Using Photodegradable Hydrogel Membranes. ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2 (1): 266-276.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsabm.8b00592