Jeffrey E. Barrick

My lab works at the interface of microbial experimental evolution and synthetic biology. We are especially interested in developing methods to anticipate and arrest unwanted microbial evolution and understanding how differences in the organization of information in microbial genomes determines their evolutionary potential. We use a >36-year Escherichia coli long-term evolution experiment (LTEE) and experiments lasting weeks to years with the naturally transformable bacterium Acinetobacter baylyi and engineered derivatives to investigate these questions. Recently, we have also begun developing synthetic biology tools for genetically modifying bacterial symbionts of insects, including developing symbiont-mediated RNA approaches that can be used to protect honey bee health and experimentally studying how free-living microbes become endosymbionts of aphids.