My research focuses on the identification of compounds which induce the growth of otherwise unculturable bacteria. These compounds are isolated from "helper" organisms from the same environment which induce growth in co-culture. I have been working primarily with microbial biofilms growing on intertidal sediment. Some great SEM images of a natural community of bacteria growing on sand can be found here: Sand Biofilm

Publications:

Kim Lewis, Slava Epstein, Anthony D'Onofrio and Losee L Ling (2010) Uncultured Microorganisms as a source of secondary metabolites. The Journal of Antibiotics. Advance Online Publication: doi: 10.1038/ja.2010.87 [PDF]

Anthony D'Onofrio, Jason M. Crawford, Eric J. Stewart, Kathrin Witt, Ekaterina Gavrish, Slava Epstein, Jon Clardy, Kim Lewis (2010) Siderophores from Neighboring Organisms Promote the Growth of Uncultured Bacteria. Chemistry & Biology 17(3):256-264. [PDF]

Lan Xu, Youhoon Chong, Inkyu Hwang, Anthony D'Onofrio, Kristen Amore, G. Peter Beardsley, Chenglong Li, Arthur J. Olson, Dale L. Boger, and Ian A. Wilson. (2007). Structure-based Design, Synthesis, Evaluation, and Crystal Structures of Transition State Analogue Inhibitors of Inosine Monophosphate Cyclohydrolase. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 13033-13046.

Correia, F., D'Onofrio, A., Rejtar, T., Li, L, Karger, B., Makarova, K., Koonin, E. and Lewis, K. (2006). Kinase Activity of Overexpressed HipA is Required for Growth Arrest and Multidrug Tolerance in Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology. 24:8360-8367.