Prof Tung Le

Biography

I am a professor / group leader and Wellcome Trust investigator at the Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre. I joined the JIC as a Royal Society University Research Fellow in January 2016 after having completed a postdoc at MIT. Our group aims to answer fundamental questions in bacterial chromosome organization, chromosome segregation, and genome evolution.

The combined approach of “omics” techniques, genetics, cell biology, biochemistry, and X-ray crystallography have positioned our group at the forefront of the bacterial chromosome field. Going forward, we are investigating mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) by virus-like agents. We wish to understand mechanistically how HGT contributes to driving the evolution of bacterial genomes and the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity. Our works have been funded by BBSRC, the Royal Society, the Wellcome Trust, and the Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine.