Paczkowski Laboratory Group Photo

Research in the Paczkowski laboratory focuses on the mechanisms of regulation of quorum sensing (QS) in Gram-negative bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio cholerae, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Chromobacterium violaceum. QS is a process of bacterial cell-cell communication that controls virulence and biofilm formation in many bacterial species. QS relies on the production, accumulation, detection, and population-wide response to extracellular signal molecules called autoinducers (AI). QS allows bacteria to synchronously alter gene expression patterns that underpin collective behaviors. Using QS as a model will allow us to understand long-standing questions in the field related to signal recognition preferences in single species and multi-species environments and the regulation of the interrelated signaling cascade that exists to coordinate behavior. Learning how bacteria correctly interpret these blends of AIs and elicit appropriate gene expression responses is essential to understand how bacteria communicate, and, more globally, to understand how all organisms decode environmental stimuli. QS presents a unique opportunity to understand these longstanding questions in biology.

Specific projects include:

  • Determining the mechanisms used by regulators to control QS receptor function and recognition of DNA.
  • Determining the mechanism of AI recognition for QS receptors.
  • Screening small molecule libraries for inhibitors of QS receptors.
  • Determining the role of QS in shaping microbial community architecture.

We use a combination of bacterial genetics, biochemistry, structural biology, and chemical biology to understand how bacteria respond appropriately to signals in a complex environment.

Join us! 

Paczkowski Laboratory

 

Research Affiliate I (Post Doctoral) JR-0001535


Applications due 5/5/25
The Research Affiliate I will work with a Principal Investigator to develop their post-doctoral skills set. The incumbent will be responsible for investigating the unexpected complexities of quorum sensing (QS) regulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other Gram-negative pathogens. This project explores how protein-protein interactions influence promoter selectivity and transcriptional regulation by LuxR-type QS receptors—a paradigm-shifting concept in bacterial signaling networks. The incumbent will employ interdisciplinary techniques spanning molecular microbiology, proteomics, genomics, biochemistry, and structural biology to dissect the mechanisms by which accessory proteins control LuxR-type receptor activity and promoter binding specificity. For more information on the model system, please visit the lab website.

 

 

Program Updates

Game plan - Paczkowski

A New Game Plan - Wadsworth Center’s Dr. Jon Paczkowski Awarded $1.8 Million NIH Grant to Study Regulation of Virulence Factors

​Current antibiotics work by interfering with bacterial growth, which is a fine game plan… until it stops working. More and more, bacteria are finding ways around this approach, resulting in a huge antibiotic resistance problem. Dr. Jon Paczkowski may just have come up with a new defensive strategy and recently received a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate.
Dr. Jon Paczkowski

Bacterial FOMO

Wadsworth Center Welcomes Dr. Jon Paczkowski Dr. Paczkowski received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2014 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Bassler Laboratory at Princeton University prior to joining the Wadsworth Center. Here he uses the model organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa to study microbial signal transduction and cell-cell communication.
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