My laboratory employs diverse interdisciplinary methods of inquiry to understand the fundamental principles underlying microbial growth, physiology, and ecology. Cell shape plays a critical role in regulating many physiological functions, yet little is known about how the wide variety of cell shapes are determined and maintained. Inside the cell, many proteins organize and segregate, but how they detect and respond to the cellular morphology to end up at the right place at the right time is also largely mysterious. We use physical and engineering approaches to understand how cell shape and size are coupled to environmental factors such as antibiotics, osmolarity, temperature, and the presence of other species. Current topics of interest in the lab are: 1) evolution of the gut microbiota; 2) physiology of the small intestine; 3) how stresses affect cells and communities; 4) chemical and biological editing of microbial communities; 5) the integration of cell mechanics and physiology; 6) functional genetic screening.