Lilah Rahn-Lee, Ph.D.

In my lab we explore the molecular mechanisms that control the diverse ways that bacteria perform basic cellular tasks such as cell division or the regulation of DNA replication. Eukaryotic cells all perform these tasks in essentially the same way, but different types of bacteria have radically different approaches to solving these challenges. Previously, only a small handful of model bacteria have been used by scientists to understand bacterial cell processes. In my lab we explore the mechanisms behind a diverse group of bacteria with essentially different approaches to these molecular tasks. This exciting area of research has recently opened up due to technological advances in DNA sequencing that free us from the confines of studying only a few model bacteria.