October 2019

Ute Hochgeschwender is a Professor of Neuroscience at Central Michigan University, where she heads the Bioluminescent Optogenetics Laboratory. Central components of the lab’s activities are advancing and applying the concept of using biological light, i.e. a light-generating protein, a luciferase, to activate light-sensing photoreceptors, both ion moving opsins and non-ion moving photoswitches. Applications of our tools include exploration of the relationship between developmental neuronal activity and shaping of neuronal circuitry resulting in adult behavior, driving neuronal activity to...Read more

In the Whiteley Lab, we are interested in the social lives of bacteria. Currently we are utilizing new technologies combined with classical genetic techniques to address questions about microbial physiology, ecology, virulence, and evolution. We primarily study chronic infections involving the pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. Our lab is located at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and we are affiliated with the School of Biological Sciences, as well as the Emory-Children’s Cystic Fibrosis Center.Read more