Published: November 2015
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Assistant professor of biology Tim van Opijnen applies an approach called systems biology—a process of examining simultaneously all elements of an organism—to the common and potentially deadly bacterium Streptococcus pneumonia. Using genomic sequencing along with high-volume robotic testing systems and computer modeling, van Opijnen and his lab members aim to identify “pressure points” in the bacterium’s system that might allow effective treatment of the disease and reduce the likelihood of antibiotic resistance. Van Opijnen has been pursuing this line of research since 2009. He has published accounts of his work in numerous journals, including Nature Methods, Nature Reviews in Microbiology, Genome Research, and Cell, Host & Microbe. The lab’s research is supported by several grants, amounting to more than $4,000,000, from the National Institutes of Health and the PEW Charitable Trust.