Joshua D Shrout
Contact Info
Email: joshua.shrout@nd.eduPhone: 574-631-1726
Office: 166 Fitzpatrick Hall
Website: http://www.nd.edu/~jshrout/
Affiliations
Summary of Activities/Interests
The Shrout Research Group investigates "sociomicrobiology" and community actions of bacteria that are important to medicine and the environment. Much of our work researches the development of bacterial biofilms.
Biofilms are surface-associated communities of bacteria. Surprisingly, very few factors that regulate biofilm growth on various surfaces such as human tissue, medical implants, water intake pipes, teeth, soil particles, or even other microorganisms are understood even for "simple" bacteria. We use an interdisciplinary research approach to understand how physical and chemical environmental cues influence biological behavior of biofilms.
Relatedly, our group researches the motility of bacteria on surfaces. Many bacteria, such as the organism Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are capable of controlling their surface motility as an initial step in biofilm development. We are working to understand how bacteria orchestrate their response(s).
Biography
Education/Training:
Post-doc. University of Washington/ University of Iowa—Microbiology (2003-2007)
Post-doc. University of Iowa—Civil and Environmental Engineering (2002-2003)
Ph.D. University of Iowa—Civil and Environmental Engineering (2002)
M.S. Marquette University—Civil and Environmental Engineering (1998)
B.S. Northwestern University—Environmental Engineering (1994)
Current Appointments:
Professor Shrout has been a faculty member in the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences since 2007, a member of the Eck Institute for Global Health since 2008, and a concurrent faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences since 2010.
