Academic Education:

B.Sc., Molecular Biology, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Ph.D., Molecular and Cellular Genetics, Universite Paris XI, France

Appointments:

Research Assistant Professor, Northeastern University (2006 - present)

Senior Scientist, Northeastern University (2004 - 2006)

Research Associate (post vert INSERM), Faculté de Médicine, Necker, Paris (2001 - 2004)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School (1998 - 2001)

Graduate Student, Institute Jacques Monod, Paris (1993 - 1998)

Research Interests:

Persisters are bacterial cells able to survive killing by antibiotics. This antibiotic tolerance is mechanistically distinct from resistance. Persisters are not mutants but phenotypic variants.
We are interested in genetic mechanism(s) underlying formation of persister fraction within genetically identical antibiotic-susceptible population of bacteria. Understanding these mechanisms is important in order to get a complete and realistic picture of pathogens during the infection and antibiotic treatment, especially in the case of chronic and relapsing infections. In addition there is an interest in uncovering the mechanism of generation of phenotypic diversity and its role and significance in evolution.


Selected Publications:

T. Dörr, K.Lewis and M. Vulic; “SOS response induces persistence to fluoroquinolones in Escherichia coli”, (2009), PLoS Genetics, in press.

S. Hansen, K. Lewis and M. Vulic; “Role of global regulators and nucleotide metabolism in antibiotic tolerance in Escherichia coli”, (2008), Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 52:2718-2726.

A. Babic, E., A.B. Lindner, M. Vulic, E.J. Stewart and M. Radman; “Direct visualization of horizontal gene transfer”, (2008), Science 319:1533-1536.

A. Spoering, M. Vulic & K. Lewis; “GlpD and PlsB participate in persister cell formation in Escherichia coli”, (2006), J. Bacteriol., 188:5136-5144.

M. Vulic & R. Kolter; “Alcohol-induced delay of viability loss in stationary-phase cultures of Escherichia coli”, (2002), J. Bacteriol. 184, 2898-2905.

M. Vulic & R. Kolter; “Evolutionary cheating in Escherichia coli stationary phase cultures”, (2001), Genetics 158, 519-526.

M. Vulic, R. Lenski and M. Radman; “Mutation, recombination and incipient speciation in laboratory”, (1999), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96, 7348-7351.

M. Vulic, F. Dionisio, F. Taddei and M. Radman; “Molecular Keys to Speciation: DNA Polymorphism and the Control of Genetic Exchange in Enterobacteria”, (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 9763-9767.

F. Taddei, M. Vulic, M. Radman and I. Matic (1997) “Genetic variability and adaptation to stress” in Environmental Stress, Adaptation and Evolution, eds Bijlsma, K.& Loeschcke, V. (Birkhäuser, Basel); 271-290.

Complete List of Publications

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