Matthew Barber
University of Oregon, OR·Microbiology & Immunology
Bacteria that cause disease and the animals they infect are locked in an evolutionary arms race. Each side puts strong pressure on the other, so the genes that control their molecular contacts change unusually fast.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Ecology & Evolution
Genetics
- Topics
host-pathogen evolution
evolutionary arms race
bacterial pathogens
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2030
What they work on
- Test how rapid evolution of cell-surface receptors on animal and bacterial cells changes bacterial colonization and immune evasion, combining phylogenetic analysis with biochemistry and cell biology.
- Determine how substitutions, gene conversion and gene duplication together shape the binding between bacterial and host receptors, using experiments on specific genetic variants.
- Measure how fast-evolving host antimicrobial enzymes (proteins that attack bacteria) differ in activity against diverse bacterial pathogens, using biochemistry and laboratory microbiology.
- Identify how bacterial pathogens have evolved to evade host antimicrobial enzymes, using molecular genetics.
More about the research
This fast change can decide which hosts a microbe can infect, how harmful it is, and whether new or returning infectious diseases appear in people. These same contact points are also a natural setting for studying basic evolution: how natural selection works and how proteins gain new functions. The work focuses on bacterial pathogens of humans, which are a leading cause of death worldwide and a growing source of drug-resistant infections.
Why it matters
Genetic differences among people and among bacterial strains can change who gets sick and how badly. By showing how specific variants alter host–bacteria interactions, this work could point to new strategies against bacterial infections. This matters in particular as antimicrobial-resistant infections become more common.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Caitlin Smukowski Heil
North Carolina State University, NC·Genetics
Build genome-wide recombination maps for multiple Saccharomyces uvarum populations using whole genome sequencing, and compare how double-strand breaks are repaired as crossovers versus non-crossover gene conversions.
Catherine Wakeman
Texas Tech University, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify vulnerability tradeoffs, weaknesses that appear when antibiotic-resistant bacteria reshape their physiology to survive drug exposure, and test whether targeting them clears infection in a mouse chronic wound model.
Madison Collins
Montana State University, MT·Microbiology & Immunology
Test the hypothesis that molecules controlled by the S. aureus SaeR/S gene regulatory system disrupt autophagy, a self-digestion process that kills trapped microbes, in human neutrophils after they swallow the bacteria.
The school
University of Oregon: 14 labs on PI Pages, $175M a year on research, 219 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.