We are mainly interested in microbial cell-to-cell signaling and biofilm formation. Biofilm formation is a kind of group behavior of microorganisms using molecular signals to meet environmental changes. Since the group activity and biofilm formation of microbes are very important in microbial infections and pathogenesis, we can damp down the virulence of pathogenic bacteria by disturbing the signaling and biofilm formation. This is an emerging target to develop antimicrobial drugs and our aims are to understand the mechanism of microbial communication and biofilm formation.

Selected Publications

1. AntR-mediated bidirectional activation of antA and antR, anthranilate degradative genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Gene. (2012) 505, 146-152
2. Rapid in vivo screening system for anti-oxidant activity using bacterial redox sensor strains. Journal of Applied Microbiology. (2010) 108,  1217-1225
3. Differential effect of chlorine on the oxidative stress generation in dormant and active cells within colony biofilm. Water research. (2009) 43, 5252-5259
4. Activity of purified QscR, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa orphan quorum-sensing transcription factor Mol. Microbiol. (2006) 59, 602-609
5. A reducing system of the superoxide sensor SoxR in Escherichia coli. EMBO J. (2003) 22, 2614-2622