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Bacillus subtilis is the model organism for gram positive bacteria and is an extremely interesting organism to study. In response to external stimuli signaling a harshening of growth conditions, Bacillus regulates gene expression in a very sophisticated fashion enabling the cell to incorporate foreign genetic material or even in the most extreme case to enter in a dormant state where genetic information is stored in spores. This incredible morphological dfferentiation allows bacteria to survive external conditions that would be otherwise lethal, and to resume growth in case of a more permissive environment. By coupling microfluidics to fluorescence microscopy, my goal is to characterize the variations in level and dynamics of important proteins in the different steps of sporulation. I will also extend this approach to other cellular processes such as phage infection, dissecting the fate of phage DNA once entered in the cell.

2015 Brambilla Elisa, Sclavi B. “Gene Regulation by H-NS as a Function of Growth Conditions Depends on Chromosomal Position in Escherichia coli.” G3 (Bethesda) doi: 10.1534/g3.114.016139

2014 Long Z, Olliver A, Brambilla Elisa, Sclavi B, Lagomarsino MC, Dorfman KD. “Measuring bacterial adaptation dynamics at the single-cell level using a microfluidic chemostat and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy.” Analyst : 139(20):5254-62 doi: 10.1039/c4an00877d.