Bridges Lab @ CMU
About
About Us
In the Bridges lab we use diverse approaches to study how bacteria make developmental decisions based on extracellular sensory information. Read about our research for more information. In addition, we strive to cultivate a healthy and productive scientific environment where people from all backgrounds are welcomed and supported!
News
Lab News
March 6, 2024: The first Bridges lab manuscript it out!
Our work, entitled “Cell lysis sensing drives biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae,” was published in Nature Communications. We find that upon exposure to lytic phages, the pathogen V. cholerae rapidly lyses, but then recovers, with surviving cells exhibiting robust biofilm formation. We find that the mechanism underlying this observation is a process we refer to as “lysis sensing”…whereby surviving cells sense a signal released by the death of their kin. We identify the cell lysis signal as an abundant cytoplasmic polyamine, norspermidine, which is detected by an inner-membrane receptor, MbaA, that in turn drives biofilm formation. We determine that additional pathogenic organisms also exhibit multicellular community formation in response to lysis. Given the pervasiveness of lysis in the environment, we propose that lysis sensing is a threat-agnostic mechanism by which bacteria can gauge endangerment.
Feb 11, 2024: Irina hits the big time on CMU’s Instagram. Happy International Women and Girls in Science day!
Robert van de Weerd joins
Nov 1, 2022: The latest member to join the group is Robert van de Weerd, originally from the Netherlands. Robert’s interests include biotechnology development and molecular pathogenesis.
Irina Mikheyeva joins the lab
Oct 1, 2022: The newest member of the lab is Irina Mikheyeva. Irina’s interests include molecular pathogenesis, signal transduction, as well as hiking and biking.
Sept 23, 2022: Drew is named a 2022 Blavatnik Regional Award Finalist for his postdoctoral research on Vibrio cholerae biofilm dispersal.
2022 Blavatnik Regional Awards Finalist 🏅 Dr. Andrew Bridges studies the lifecycles of bacterial #biofilms. He uncovered the lifecycle of v. cholerae, the bacteria that causes #cholera @Bridges_Bio @Princeton @cmuscience https://t.co/nh8ecwPsU7@nationalpostdoc #NPAW2022 pic.twitter.com/oefF75A8n7
— Blavatnik Awards (@BlavatnikAwards) September 21, 2022