Emergent States and Functions of Microbial Systems

We aim to understand how microbial systems become more than the sum of their parts. We focus on alternative stable states that microbial communities can reach. Not only this, but we seek to predict how these states affect functions such as collective antibiotic resistance, an emergent community property. To achieve such predictive understanding of microbial systems, we take an integrative approach that interrogates microbial communities in both the wet and the dry lab.