Dr. Christine Jacobs Wagner

Biography

Christine Jacobs-Wagner is a prominent researcher in the field of microbiology with a focus on bacterial cell biology. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Liège, Belgium in 1996. Her groundbreaking work has unraveled the molecular mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens sense and respond to antibiotic attacks, ultimately achieving resistance. During her postdoctoral work at Stanford Medical School, she demonstrated that bacteria can localize regulatory proteins to specific intracellular regions, thereby controlling signal transduction and cell cycle activities. Jacobs-Wagner initiated her own laboratory at Yale University in 2001, where her group made significant contributions to understanding the complex processes of bacterial cell morphogenesis, cell polarization, and chromosome segregation. Her distinguished research has earned her numerous accolades, including the Pew Scholars award and recognition from various scientific societies. As an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008, her current research explores the spatiotemporal mechanisms of bacterial cell replication using models such as Caulobacter crescentus and Escherichia coli. In addition, her lab has expanded its interests to include the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, discovering new insights into the pathogen's growth and disease-causing mechanisms.

Research Interests