Sapna Chitlapilly Dass

Professional Summary

Sapna is an assistant professor of Microbiology in the Department of Animal Science. She received a B.S. in Zoology from University of Madras. She obtained her M.S. degree in Industrial Biotechnology from Newcastle University. She earned her Ph.D. in Food Microbiology from Dublin Institute of Technology. Before joining the department, her prior appointments were, postdoctoral research associate in University of Nebraska- Lincoln, postdoctoral research engineer in France National center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and University of Paris VI (UPMC), Banyuls-sur-Mer, France and research internship, French National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), Nancy, France. 

The research in Dass lab is centered around the multipartite interactions between human pathogens, their host, and the microbiome. We focus on two key areas host-pathogen interactions and pathogen protection in multi-species biofilms. The holistic understanding of pathogen protection, dispersal processes, and their underlying microbiological mechanisms is highly significant, as it will lead to powerful new approaches that could reduce pathogen outbreaks. Our research is highly interdisciplinary, amalgamating the fields of microbial ecology, biophysics, biofilm biology, virology, and mathematical modeling. We use a combination of multi-OMICS (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metabolomics), microscopy, and microfluidic techniques supported by large-scale mathematical modeling to understand the multipartite interactions. 

Multi-species Biofilms: The biofilms are most often composed of multi-species microorganisms, and the community is shaped by the environment in which it grows. A major goal of our group is to understand the adaptive response of the pathogen to mixed species biofilm. Specifically, we are interested in understanding how pathogens are recruited into the mixed-species biofilm community, how they co-evolve in the shared niche, and pathogen transmission pathways. 

Host-Microbe Interactions: Our interest in host-microbe interactions is centered around the concept of “pathobiome.” Evolving from the concept of Koch and Hills’s disease postulate, the concept of pathobiome looks at a pathogen and its complex interactions with the host and host-associated microbiome, which may influence or drive the disease process. In this area, we are interested in understanding how the pathogen integrates into the host environment and spreads the disease. Also, we are interested in the mechanism of ‘microbiota kin selection” and how this microbial community evolves to reach a climax community harboring the pathogen in the host environment.