Microbes and Beneficial Microbes

Biography

Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai is an American biologist best known for advancement of understanding of the intricate relationship between animals and microbes. She currently is director of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center and Professor in the Department of Biology and the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai is a professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Public Health, and member of the Symbiosis Cluster group, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Eye Research Institute. Her laboratory studies two areas: 1) the role of beneficial bacteria in health using the squid-vibrio model; 2) the biochemical and molecular ‘design’ of tissues that interact with light. In addition, she has been heavily involved in promoting microbiology as the cornerstone of the field of biology.

Research Interest

Research focuses on host responses to interactions with beneficial microbes. Within this context, the studies of my laboratory address five major questions: 1. How are environmentally rare bacteria harvested from the host's habitat during the onset of a horizontally transmitted symbiosis? 2. By what mechanisms does the host recognize its specific symbiotic partner(s)? 3. What are the influences of symbiotic bacteria on the developmental of the host tissues with which they associate? 4. How is the symbiont population maintained in balance over the host's lifetime, such that neither does the symbiont overgrow the host nor does the host eliminate the symbiont? 5. What are the similarities and differences between pathogenic and beneficial animal-bacterial interactions?