WILLIAM LOPES

Welcome! I am a microbiologist currently doing research in Jeff Gore's Lab at MIT. My work combines interdisciplinary approaches in microbiology, ecology, and physics to answer a question that has captured the interest of many researchers for the past few decades: What drives a community to exist in one of many possible compositions?

I earned my Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Marilene Vainstein at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil, where I studied the sociobiology of the global pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans using tools such as high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) and in vivo imaging.

I’ve been fortunate to work with a diverse group of collaborators to study a variety of topics that I am broadly interested in, such as:

• Microbial pathogenesis

• Dynamics of biofilm formation

• Bacteria-fungal interactions

• Ultrastructure of microbial communities

• Microbial physiology

For more information, visit the research section below.

I am also passionate about science communication through art. Find out more about my microscopy exhibition.