Mar 2, 2026
New Research Grant: The Gahlmann lab has been awarded an NIH MIRA R35 to develop new 4D fluorescence imaging and image processing technologies to visualize how bacterial populations colonize different niches on and within human-derived tissues. 
Results from this project will advance our fundamental understanding of microbial life and its impact on human physiology.
Thanks to NIGMS for the support!

Feb 11, 2026
New Preprint! Olivia’s work reveals how long cytosolic injectisome proteins remain bound to the Yersinia T3SS injectisome. The answer depends on the secretion state and the secretion substrate availability.
Cooperative Binding of Cytosolic Type III Secretion System Proteins to the Injectisome Revealed by Live-Cell Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy

Nov 15, 2025
Wisdom Owusu and Isaac Heneampong join the group. Welcome!

May 3, 2025
New collaborative paper published with the Laurie lab!
Lacritin Cleavage-Potentiated Targeting of Iron-Respiratory Reciprocity Promotes Bacterial Death
In this case, do shed your tears: The cationic lacritin peptide 'N-104' translocates into the periplasm where it binds inner membrane-localized transporters to suppress ferrous iron and polyamine uptake. This broadly shuts down transcription of many biofilm-associated genes - keeping your eyes clean.

Nov 15, 2024
Udisha Sahrawat and Robert Casper join the group. Welcome!

Apr 9, 2024
Josh successfully defends his PhD thesis and becomes the 7th student to graduate from the Lab. Congratulations!

Apr 3, 2024
Salama lab NIH R01 grant renewed! This grant will support new collaborative work between the Salama and Gahlmann labs. We will track cell shape-determining proteins in living Helicobacter pylori cells. The corkscrew shape of Helicobacter pylori cells enables this bacterium to efficiently colonize the human stomach, which causes gastritis, peptic ulcers, and, in some cases, gastric cancers.
Thanks to NIAID for the support!

Aug 17, 2023
Is it possible to “weigh” soluble proteins and protein complexes in living cells by measuring their diffusion coefficients?  Find out our opinion on this question in our review article: Single-molecule tracking to determine the abundances and stoichiometries of freely-diffusing protein complexes in living cells: past applications and future prospects.

Jul 16, 2023
New Paper published! Alecia’s work reveals how iLID optogenetic interaction domains function in a single-molecule tracking experiments: Dimerization of iLID Optogenetic Proteins Observed Using 3D Single-Molecule Tracking in Live E.coli.