Lingchong You

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

The You lab uses a combination of mathematical modeling, machine learning, and quantitative experiments to elucidate principles underlying the dynamics of microbial communities in time and space and to control these dynamics for applications in computation, engineering, and medicine.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• James L. Meriam Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Associate Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
• Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

Contact Information

• Office Location: 1381 CIEMAS, 101 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
• Office Phone: (919) 660-8408
• Websites:
  • Google Scholar
  • Youlab homepage

Education

• Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002
• M.S. University of Science and Technology of China (China), 1997
• B.S.E. Chengdu University of Science and Technology (China), 1994

Research Interests

Quantitative biology, synthetic biology, machine learning, antibiotic resistance, microbiome

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. National Science Foundation. 2010
• Fellowships for Science and Engineering. David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 2006

Courses Taught

• BIOLOGY 293-1: Research Independent Study
• BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 574: Modeling and Engineering Gene Circuits (GE, MC)
• BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
• CBB 574: Modeling and Engineering Gene Circuits (GE, MC)
• EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
• MGM 293: Research Independent Study I
• MGM 593: Research Independent Study
• PHARM 394: Research Independent Study
• PHARM 493: Research Independent Study

In the News

• University Awards 24 New Distinguished Professorships (May 18, 2022)
• Tiny Jumping Genes Fingered as Culprit in Rise of Antibiotic Resistance (Apr 6, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• The Surprising Structural Reason Your Kitchen Sponge is Disgusting (Feb 17, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Study Shows Some Bacteria Are Better Able to Share Resistance With Peers Than We Thought (Jan 29, 2020 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Machine Learning Is Providing New Insights When the Biology Is Too Complex for Traditional Research (Oct 3, 2019 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Distinguishing Resistance from Resilience to Prolong Antibiotic Potency (Dec 5, 2018 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• New Tool Tells Bioengineers When to Build Microbial Teams (Feb 21, 2018 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Where Are All the Germs? Students Explore Duke's Microbiome (Dec 7, 2017 | Center for Genomic and Computational Biology)
• Lingchong You: Tales of the genetically altered, superhero bacteria swarmbot (May 2, 2016 | WFDD-Winston-Salem’s “SciWorks Radio”)
• Time Cues Help Keep Humans Looking Human (Apr 22, 2016 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Antibiotics Don't Promote Swapping of Resistance Genes (Apr 11, 2016 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Biologists turn bacteria into 'swarmbots' (Mar 2, 2016 | Gizmodo)
• Engineered Swarmbots Rely on Peers for Survival (Feb 29, 2016 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• How Dividing Cells End Up the Same Size (Jun 4, 2015 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Lingchong You comments: Paper test can detect Ebola strains (Oct 27, 2014 | BBC News)
• Dispersal Patterns Key to Invasive Species' Success (Jan 21, 2014 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Chinese-Americans protest Kimmel skit in front of ABC station in downtown Raleigh (Nov 11, 2013 | The News & Observer)
• Growing Bacteria Keep Time, Know Their Place (Oct 8, 2013)

Representative Publications

• Yao, Y; Maddamsetti, R; Weiss, A; Ha, Y; Wang, T; Wang, S; You, L, Intra- and interpopulation transposition of mobile genetic elements driven by antibiotic selection., Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol 6 no. 5 (2022), pp. 555-564 [10.1038/s41559-022-01705-2] [abs].
• Lu, J; Şimşek, E; Silver, A; You, L, Advances and challenges in programming pattern formation using living cells., Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, vol 68 (2022) [10.1016/j.cbpa.2022.102147] [abs].
• Wu, F; Ha, Y; Weiss, A; Wang, M; Letourneau, J; Wang, S; Luo, N; Huang, S; Lee, CT; David, LA; You, L, Modulation of microbial community dynamics by spatial partitioning., Nat Chem Biol, vol 18 no. 4 (2022), pp. 394-402 [10.1038/s41589-021-00961-w] [abs].
• Chen, B; Kang, W; Sun, J; Zhu, R; Yu, Y; Xia, A; Yu, M; Wang, M; Han, J; Chen, Y; Teng, L; Tian, Q; Yu, Y; Li, G; You, L; Liu, Z; Dai, Z, Programmable living assembly of materials by bacterial adhesion., Nature Chemical Biology, vol 18 no. 3 (2022), pp. 289-294 [10.1038/s41589-021-00934-z] [abs].
• Gore, J; You, L, Editorial overview: All microbial systems go`., Current Opinion in Microbiology, vol 65 (2022), pp. iii-iv [10.1016/j.mib.2022.01.001] [abs].