Laboratory of Integrative Microbiology at University of North Texas

Research Interests

We study how the abundances and activities of cellular components like DNA, mRNA, ribosomes, and protein are intrinsically related to one another, and how these relations govern emergent behavior like cell growth, survival, and response to environmental changes.

Topics we are currently interested in:
a. coordination between transcription-translation fluxes
b. protein homeostasis in starvation
c. resource allocation strategies during cellular response
d. kinetics of ppGpp signaling

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Publications

†equal contribution *corresponding authors

Balakrishnan, R†., Mori, M†., Segota, I., Zhang, Z., Okano, H., Aebersold, R., Ludwig, C., Hwa, T. Principles of gene regulation quantitatively connect  DNA to RNA and proteins in bacteria. Science (2022)

Wu, C†., Balakrishnan, R†., Braniff, N., Mori, M., Manzanarez, G., Zhang, Z., Hwa, T. Cellular perception of growth rate and the mechanistic origin of bacterial growth laws. Proc Natl Acad Sci (2022).

Balakrishnan, R*., de Silva, RT., Hwa, T., Cremer, J*. Suboptimal proteome allocation during changing environments constrains bacterial response and growth recovery. Mol Syst Biol (2021).

Updates

Lab opens - August 16, 2024