Our lab is broadly interested in how bacteria adapt to stressful conditions. We primarily think about microbial stress through the lens of host-pathogen interactions, where microbial pathogens must survive within the chemically complex and dynamic host environment to cause disease. We are particularly interested in the capacity for the molecule nitric oxide (NO) to shape microbial survival, which is both a component of the host immune system but is also a crucial intermediate for microbial anaerobic respiration. What are the molecular and genetic determinants of microbial adaptation to NO, and how does the local environment shape these responses? Given the universality of NO in biology, we hope that our research at the host-pathogen interface will inspire investigations into the capacity of NO to tune diverse microbe-dominant ecosystems.
Program Faculty
- Zachery Lonergan
- Assistant Professor
- Department: Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
- Graduate Program(s): Biochemistry | Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
- Major Research Interest(s): Cell stress / Cell death, Drug Discovery, Gene regulation, Metabolism / Nutrition, Pathogenesis
- Research Techniques: Biochemistry, Genetics, Metabolomics, Proteomics, Transcriptomics
- Research Organism(s): Bacteria, Mice
- Rotation Faculty
- Phone: 1.8489325618
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
- Lipman Hall, Room 120
- 76 Lipman Drive
- New Brunswick, NJ 08901
- Key Words: microbial stress response mechanisms; small molecule biochemistry; nitric oxide sensing and reactivity; Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenesis
- Lab Site URL