THE MAIN FOCUS of research in the Polz lab is the exploration of structure-function relationships in microbial communities.

Environmental microbiology is at an important crossroads. Over the last twenty years we have learned that microbes are the most ubiquitous organisms on Earth, yet the dynamics that govern their interactions and evolution remain poorly understood. What is the role of individual populations within the community? What is the range of genomic similarity that defines a population as a functional unit? What mechanisms govern diversification of microbial populations in the environment?

We address these questions using a combination of quantitative molecular approaches, genomics, physiology, and modeling. Our primary model system is the coastal ocean where we study patterns of diversity among co-occurring bacterioplankton from the level of the entire community to the individual genome. For the latter, we focus on bacteria of the genus Vibrio, which are longstanding models of heterotrophic, marine bacteria and also contain many pathogenic variants (e.g., V. cholerae, V. vulnificus). As part of the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health (COHH), we are also exploring environmental and evolutionary mechanisms that trigger the emergence of pathogenic variants within the vibrios.  We are also part of the Earth Systems Initiative and the Microbial Systems Group at MIT.

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Martin Polz - Principle Investigator


Michael Cutler - Lab Manager


Hans Wildschutte - Postdoctoral Fellow

Yan Boucher - Postdoctoral Fellow

Otto Cordero - Postdoctoral Fellow


Aidong Ruan - Guest Researcher

Gitta Szabo - Guest Researcher


Hong Xue - Graduate Student

Kathryn Kauffman - Graduate Student

Alison Takemura - Graduate Student


Former Lab members

Selected Recent Publications

Fraser C., Alm EJ, Polz MF, Spratt BG, Hanage WP (2009).

The Bacterial Species Challenge: Making Sense of Genetic and Ecological Diversity. Science 6 February 2009  Vol. 323. no. 5915, pp. 741 - 746   DOI: 10.1126/science.1159388.



Hunt, D.E., David, L.A., Gevers, D., Preheim, S.P., Alm, E.J., Polz, M.F. (2008).  Resource Partitioning and Sympatric Differentiation Among Closely Related Bacterioplankton. Science 320(5879):1081-1085.



Marcelino, L., Backman, V., Donaldson, A., Steadman, C., Thompson, J.R., Paccocha-Preheim, S., Lien, C., Lim, E., Veneziano, D., Polz, M.F. (2006).  Accurately quantifying low-abundant targets amid similar sequences by revealing hidden correlations in oligonucleotide microarray data. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA103(37): 13629-13634.



Polz, M.F., Hunt, D.E., Preheim, S.P., Weinreich, D.M. (2006).         Patterns and mechanisms of genetic and phenotypic differentiation in marine microbes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 361 (1475): 2009-2021.



Thompson, J.R., Pacocha, S., Pharino, C., Klepac-Ceraj, V., Hunt, D.E., Benoit, J., Sarma-Rupavtarm, R., Distel, D.L., Polz, M.F. (2005). Genotypic diversity within a natural coastal bacterioplankton community. Science 307:1311-1313.

 

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People in the Polz Lab

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POLZ LAB