Pengbo Cao graduated from Liaoning University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. In 2018, he earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences from the University of Wyoming. His doctoral research focused on studying a cell-cell communication system in soil bacteria. From 2019 to 2023, he worked as Cystic Fibrosis Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, focusing on bacterial infectious diseases. In 2023, he joined Westlake University as an Assistant Professor.

We study the behaviors of bacteria in their natural environments. Currently, our focus is to decode the behaviors of bacterial pathogens within the human host: What regulates these behaviors, how do they manifest, and why are these behavioral traits selected during evolution? Answering these questions is crucial in combating challenging infections.

Bacteria, similar to higher animals, exhibit remarkable versatility by altering their behaviors in different environments. Specifically, our lab studies how bacterial pathogens behave in the human body, focusing on the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa). Pa is a leading cause of serious healthcare-associated problems. It is highly versatile due to its complex gene networks, enabling Pa to switch lifestyles and cause difficult-to-treat infections in various body parts.

By directly examining bacterial gene expression in human-derived clinical samples, we recently identified a bacterial small RNA (sRNA) named SicX (sRNA inducer of chronic infection X). It is induced in low oxygen conditions and governs the shift between chronic and acute infections. Pa is known to cause persistent infection which sometimes transitions to acute exacerbation. Thus, it is important to understand how Pa responds to host environmental cues and changes lifestyles accordingly. Moreover, SicX is just a fraction of Pa’s sRNA landscape. Our knowledge of sRNAs in human infections remains limited. Therefore, we are driven to decode bacterial behaviors in humans and understanding the role of sRNAs in shaping these behaviors:

(1) How does SicX sRNA govern Pa chronic or acute lifestyle?

(2) What are the roles of other sRNAs in Pa pathogenesis?

While our primary focus is on bacterial infectious diseases, we also have a keen interest in studying the behaviors of non-pathogenic bacteria in natural environments, such as soil. Overall, our lab is dedicated to unraveling the multifaceted nature of diverse bacterial behaviors and their broader implications.

1. Cao, P., Fleming, D., Moustafa, D. A., Dolan, S. K., Szymanik, K. H., Redman, W. K., Ramos, A., Diggle, F. L., Sullivan, C. S., Goldberg, J. B., Rumbaugh, K. P., and Whiteley, M. (2023). A Pseudomonas aeruginosa small RNA regulates chronic and acute infection. Nature, 1-7.

2. Balagam, R., Cao, P. (co-first), Sah, G. P., Zhang, Z., Subedi, K., Wall, D., and Igoshin, O. A. (2021). Emergent myxobacterial behaviors arise from reversal suppression induced by kin contacts. mSystems, 6(6), e00720-21.

3. Cao, P. and Wall, D. (2019). Direct visualization of a molecular handshake that governs kin recognition and tissue formation in myxobacteria. Nature Communications. 10(1), 1-10.

4. Cao, P., Wei, X., Awal, R., Müller, R., and Wall, D. (2019). A highly polymorphic receptor governs many distinct self-recognition types within the Myxococcales order. mBio. e02751-18.

5. Cao, P. and Wall, D. (2017). Self-identify reprogrammed by a single residue switch in a cell surface receptor of a social bacterium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114(14):3732-3737.

caopengbo@westlake.edu.cn 

We are actively hiring at all levels. Please visit our lab’s website for further details: https://www.thepclab.org/join