Joanne M. Willey, Ph.D.
Biology Department
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY 11549-1270

biojmw@office.hofstra.edu
(516)463-6542 (voice)
(516) 463-5112 (fax)

Research in the Willey lab focuses on the developmental life cycle of the industrially important microbe, the streptomycetes. Members of the genus Streptomyces produce about two-thirds of the currently used antibiotics as well as anti-cancer, immunlomodulatory, and anti-helminthic agents. Interestingly, the life cycle of these organisms resembles that of the filamentous fungi in that a submerged network of filaments divides vegetatively and gives rise to emergent aerial filaments, which ultimately form spores. We are interested in how Streptomyces undergoes the transition from vegetative to aerial growth. Thus our work seeks to clarify the regulatory network and structural molecules responsible for the onset of both morphological and physiological differentiation. Our most recent work has shown that a peptide that functions as a biosurfactant to release the surface tension at the air/colony interface is structurally similar to a family of antibiotic peptides known as the lantibiotics.