Hesper Rego, PhD

Our lab studies mycobacteria — a group of bacteria that includes Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest infectious disease - and other difficult-to-treat infections. One reason M. tuberculosis is such a successful pathogen is its remarkable ability to vary, even among genetically identical cells. This diversity helps the bacterial population survive the stresses imposed by both the host environment and antibiotic treatment.

We use a wide range of approaches — from high-throughput genetic screens and transposon sequencing to live-cell and super-resolution microscopy — to uncover the strategies mycobacteria use to grow, metabolize, and persist. Our goal is to translate what we learn into new therapeutic approaches that kill M. tuberculosis and other mycobacteria more quickly and completely.

Our research centers around two main questions:

1. Where does cellular diversity come from? Mycobacteria show striking variation in traits such as cell size, growth rate, and even fundamental processes like carbon metabolism. Our lab has several projects aimed at uncovering the molecular mechanisms that give rise to this heterogeneity. These efforts have led to detailed investigations into how mycobacteria grow and divide, and how key enzymes in central carbon metabolism contribute to this diversity.

2. What is this heterogeneity good for? Biological systems can use variability to their advantage. We’re exploring how diversity within bacterial populations contributes to antibiotic tolerance, the evolution of antibiotic resistance, and survival inside the host.