Serbus, Laura Graduate Faculty

Positions
placeholder image

biography

  • Dr. Laura Serbus is an Associate Professor studying host-microbe interactions in insects.

    Dr. Serbus earned her bachelor's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology at Northwestern University. She went on to earn her doctorate at Indiana University (Bloomington) under mentorship of Dr. William Saxton. Her dissertation in Dr. Saxton's lab focused on the role of the microtubule motor protein kinesin-1 in early development of Drosophila melanogaster. Dr. Serbus then moved to the University of California (Santa Cruz) to a postdoctoral position with Dr. William Sullivan. She worked with Dr. Sullivan on studies of a bacterial endosymbiont called "Wolbachia", on projects related to developmental cell biology and high-content screening of Wolbachia-infected tissue culture cells.

    Dr. Serbus's research group at FIU continues to pursue Wolbachia-host interactions as an emphasis. The lab includes research trainees ranging from high school interns to postdoctoral scholars. Lab members work in teams to tackle new research questions under the mentorship of senior lab members. Results that stand up to robust validation are communicated to others in the form of oral presentations and ultimately peer-reviewed research papers. Serbus lab papers are generally led by senior lab members, and also feature contributions by undergraduate trainees, whose research has risen to the level of an authorship position.

research interests

  • Host-microbe interactions, focusing on how Wolbachia bacteria interact with and manipulate insect cells at the molecular level.

    The Serbus lab has focused on analyzing bacterial endosymbionts called Wolbachia. This bacterial genus is is widespread in nature, with Wolbachia carried by over half of all insect species. Wolbachia success is largely attributed to manipulation of host reproduction. At the cellular level, Wolbachia is very effective at colonizing developing maternal germline cells, ensuring Wolbachia transmission into the next generation of insects. Wolbachia also uses cellular manipuation to drive selection for Wolbachia-infected females. The most famous of these manipulations is called "Cytoplasmic incompatibility", in which Wolbachia-modified sperm kill off the eggs of uninfected females.

    The Serbus lab continues to examine the cellular and molecular basis of these host manipulations by Wolbachia. The lab has also published papers about endosymbiont vitamin provisioning, gene transfer agents in symbiotic microbes, application of fluorescence microscopy approaches to Wolbachia, and Wolbachia interaction with host nutritional signaling pathways. Working in insects, Serbus lab approaches have included genetics, cell biology, microscopy, qpcr, proteomics and customized data analysis tools. The findings from this work are expected to contribute to fundamental understanding of host-microbe interactions and advancement of human health interests.

selected scholarly works & creative activities

full name

  • Laura Serbus

visualizations

publication subject areas

Citation index-derived subject areas the researcher has published in