Our Research
The Bacterial Omics and Pathogenesis Laboratory at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, led by Alexandra Grote, PhD, studies bacterial persistence and pathogenesis with a focus on Salmonella enterica and other clinically relevant pathogens.
Using population-level genomics and isolate-level multiomics, we identify regulatory circuits, epigenetic marks and adaptive mutations that shape infection outcomes.
Core methods include:
- Whole genome sequencing.
- RNASeq (bulk and dual RNASeq).
- Metabolomics.
- Long-read sequencing for methylome mapping.
- Functional validation via genetics.
Current Projects
1. Mechanisms of Salmonella Persistence in Humans
Building on our Cell Host & Microbe study, we investigate how Salmonella enterica evolves during prolonged human infections, identifying genomic mutations, regulatory rewiring and phenotypic adaptations that support persistence.
2. Bacterial Infection Diversity
While infections were once assumed to be clonal, we now know that is not the case. We examine the genetic diversity of acute infections, determining variation in virulence gene regulation, pathogenicity island content and metabolic adaptation, linking these differences to epidemiological patterns and clinical manifestations.
3. Mechanisms of Antimicrobial Resistance
We investigate how bacterial physiology and regulatory networks shape resistance and tolerance. We integrate transcriptomics, evolutionary experiments and metabolic modeling to identify strategies that slow or reverse resistance evolution.