Sophie E. Darch, PhD

Assistant Professor, College of Medicine Internal Medicine

Assistant Professor, College of Medicine Molecular Medicine

Contact Info 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.
MDC07
Tampa FL 33612

Academic Email: sdarch@usf.edu

Academic Phone:(813) 974-6079

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Research Interests

• My lab (https://darchlab.weebly.com/) is interested in complex bacterial populations and their relationship to disease. During chronic infection, such as that in the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lung, microbes diversify and interact. Many of these ‘social' interactions, both inter and intra-species are mediated by the spatial organization adopted by bacteria. My lab uses methodologies to observe and analyze bacterial aggregates (small, dense clusters of cells), in real-time, in three-dimensions and at the micro-scale. Before joining USF as an Assistant Professor in January 2019, my postdoctoral work showed 1) the life history of Pseudomonas aeruginosa aggregates in an environment that closely mimics the CF lung and 2) how spatial organization impacts QS signaling in P. aeruginosa infection. These data begin to examine the significance of aggregates during infection, and in turn introduce a model of infection that provides a platform for future studies.