THE WILLETT LAB

Welcome!  Our lab opened in January 2023 in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

We have a few major research interests, including:  1) the underlying genetics of bacterial biofilm formation and how biofilms respond to stress conditions like antibiotic treatment, 2) how bacteria interact with other microbes in their environment, 3) the functions of uncharacterized genes (the "dark matter" of bacterial genomes), and 4) development and distribution of biological collections (like arrayed Tn libraries).  We primarily use Gram-positive bacteria like Enterococcus, Streptococcus, and Staphylococcus in various in vitro and in vivo model systems to tackle these interests.

Interested in obtaining tools for Enterococcus faecalis research?  We house and distribute the E. faecalis OG1RF transposon library as well as various antibodies developed in Gary Dunny's lab.  Click here for more info.

Interested in joining our lab?  Potential PhD students should apply to the Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology PhD program.  Potential undergraduate students, technicians, and postdocs should reach out to me directly.