Biography

Research Interests The Shrout Research Group investigates "sociomicrobiology" and community actions of bacteria that are important to medicine and the environment. Much of our work researches the development of bacterial biofilms.
Biofilms are surface-associated communities of bacteria. Surprisingly, very few factors that regulate biofilm growth on various surfaces such as human tissue, medical implants, water intake pipes, teeth, soil particles, or even other microorganisms are understood even for "simple" bacteria. We use an interdisciplinary research approach to understand how physical and chemical environmental cues influence biological behavior of biofilms.
Relatedly, our group researches the motility of bacteria on surfaces. Many bacteria, such as the organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are capable of controlling their surface motility as an initial step in biofilm development. We are working to understand how bacteria orchestrate their response(s).