We are part of the Department of Microbiology in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. The mission of our lab is twofold: 1) to make novel discoveries in bacterial physiology, regulation, and stress response, and 2) to train rigorous, creative, and collaborative microbiologists.
We use a combination of genetic, genomic, and biochemical techniques to study how bacteria sense and respond to their environments. We are particularly interested in the molecular biology of the symbiotic and probiotic bacteria that make up the healthy microbiome, and are working to identify new regulators, proteins, and pathways that may influence the interactions between bacteria and their human or animal hosts. Our current research has three primary tracks:
For more information and for details on specific projects ongoing in the lab, see our Research page.
Dr. Gray's free course packet on Bacterial Genetics and Molecular Biology is available here.
The Gray lab is dedicated to diversity and inclusion, and we promote and recognize principles of fairness and equity in relation to, and across, intersections of race, age, color, disability, faith, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, social class, economic class, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression, and all other identities represented among our diverse communities.
Check out this news article, in which Sierra explains some important facts about probiotics and human health:
Check out our latest paper on bacterial HOSCN stress response, online now at the Journal of Bacteriology!
Saying goodbye to Julia today. We'll miss her, but are sure she'll do great at her postdoc position at UT Austin. The Gray lab won't be the same without you!
Congratulations to Avery for passing his advancement to candidacy meeting with flying colors! Great work.
Welcome to new lab manager / researcher Neetu Jain!
Congratulations to Dr. Julia Meredith, Ph.D. for a successful public thesis defense today! Great job!
2025 Gray Lab Brunch!
And, now online at mBio, Chris Hamm's paper on the weird things that happen to E. coli when you knock out both polyP and (p)ppGpp. Happy New Year!
Check out our latest preprint, on genome-wide responses to HOSCN stress in E. coli:
Welcome to rotation student Owen Smith, who will be joining us for the next few months to work on regulation of polyphosphate synthesis in E. coli!
Lab happy hour at Cahaba Brewing to celebrate the start of the Fall semester:
New preprint online now! Check it out:
As we start up the new semester, welcome to new undergraduate research assistant Christine Kim, who will be joining the team working with Chris on polyP in Gram-positive bacteria.
Welcome to new lab member Drashti Vaghasia, a Masters of Public Health student who will be working with Avery to study the role of hypothiocyanite in oral bacteria!
Conference season! Here are Mike, Chris, and Julia at last week's Microbial Stress Gordon Conference in Massachusetts:
And Avery and Sierra are in Wisconsin this week for the Beneficial Microbes meeting:
Online now in the Journal of Bacteriology. Nickel inhibits glutathione oxidoreductase, potentiating HOSCN toxicity in E. coli: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39016617/
Check out this new paper from our collaborators in the Randall lab showing the impact of bacterial metabolism in the microbiome on cancer biology. We helped!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1931312824001975
Check out our new paper on polyphosphate kinase, explaining why none of the in vitro data from the past 20 years makes any sense and how to fix it, now online ahead of print at the Journal of Molecular Biology:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022283624002468
Welcome to new undergraduate research assistant Lilla Fournier, who will be teaming up with Harshita to work with Dr. Chris Hamm on understanding polyphosphate biology in Bacillus species!
© 2025-06-23,All Rights Reserved.
Gray Laboratory, University of Alabama at Birmingham Feedback/Questions
