Tak, Uday
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology
Education
- BS, Biochemistry, Stony Brook University
- PhD, Microbiology, University of Alabama Birmingham
- Postdoc, Microbiology / Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder
Contact Information
Email: uday@virginia.edu
Research Disciplines
Biochemistry, Biology, Biophysics & Structural Biology, Biotechnology, Computational Biology, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, Structural Biology
Research Interests
Prokaryotic immune systems, bacteriophage virology, programmed cell death, pore-forming proteins, evolution of immunity, protein engineering
Research Description
My laboratory studies the biological conflict between bacteria and the viruses that infect them: the bacteriophages (phages). Bacteriophages represent the most abundant entity on the planet, and play a key role in controlling bacterial populations, mediating cellular conflict, and evolving virulence factors in pathogens. Consequently, bacteria have evolved an arsenal of sophisticated innate immune systems (defense systems) that sense and neutralize phage replication, allowing them to survive and proliferate in diverse environments including human hosts. Several of these defense systems are evolutionary ancestors of eukaryotic immune systems including the cGAS-STING pathway, and offer mechanistic and evolutionary insight into the origins of antiviral innate immune signaling. In other cases, these predicted systems are entirely unique to bacteria, and represent new biological paradigms that are waiting to be discovered. Currently the laboratory is interested in the following areas:
I) Cyclic oligonucleotide signaling in bacterial physiology and phage defense
II) Bacterial cell signaling through transmembrane receptors and ion channels
III) Discovery of new signaling pathways in bacterial conflict
IV) Engineering bacterial immune components for biotechnology
The lab employs a highly interdisciplinary approach including but not limited to molecular microbiology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, structural biology, high-resolution imaging, membrane reconstitution, and infection biology. We will be open to rotation students starting Fall 2024!