
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:
Education
- B.S.E. Chengdu University of Science and Technology (China), 1994
- M.S. University of Science and Technology of China (China), 1997
- Ph.D. University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002
Research Interests
Quantitative biology, synthetic biology, machine learning, antibiotic resistance, microbiomeCourses Taught
- BIOLOGY 293-1: Research Independent Study
- BME 394: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
- BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
- 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
In the News
- A Bacterial Message: ‘Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine’ (Sep 28, 2022 | Pratt Sch…
- University Awards 24 New Distinguished Professorships (May 18, 2022)
- Tiny Jumping Genes Fingered as Culprit in Rise of Antibiotic Resistance (Apr 6,…
- The Surprising Structural Reason Your Kitchen Sponge is Disgusting (Feb 17, 202…
- Study Shows Some Bacteria Are Better Able to Share Resistance With Peers Than W…
- Machine Learning Is Providing New Insights When the Biology Is Too Complex for …
- Distinguishing Resistance from Resilience to Prolong Antibiotic Potency (Dec 5,…
- New Tool Tells Bioengineers When to Build Microbial Teams (Feb 21, 2018 | Pratt…
- Where Are All the Germs? Students Explore Duke's Microbiome (Dec 7, 2017 | Cent…
- Lingchong You: Tales of the genetically altered, superhero bacteria swarmbot (M…
- Time Cues Help Keep Humans Looking Human (Apr 22, 2016 | Pratt School of Engine…
- Antibiotics Don't Promote Swapping of Resistance Genes (Apr 11, 2016 | Pratt Sc…
- Biologists turn bacteria into 'swarmbots' (Mar 2, 2016 | Gizmodo)
- Engineered Swarmbots Rely on Peers for Survival (Feb 29, 2016 | Pratt School of…
- How Dividing Cells End Up the Same Size (Jun 4, 2015 | Pratt School of Engineer…
- Lingchong You comments: Paper test can detect Ebola strains (Oct 27, 2014 | BBC…
- Dispersal Patterns Key to Invasive Species' Success (Jan 21, 2014 | Pratt Schoo…
- Chinese-Americans protest Kimmel skit in front of ABC station in downtown Ralei…
- Growing Bacteria Keep Time, Know Their Place (Oct 8, 2013)
Representative Publications
- Silver, Anita, and Lingchong You. “A change of phase.” Nature Chemical Biology, December 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01209-x.
- Bethke, Jonathan H., Helena R. Ma, Ryan Tsoi, Li Cheng, Minfeng Xiao, and Lingchong You. “Vertical and horizontal gene transfer tradeoffs direct plasmid fitness.” Molecular Systems Biology, December 2022, e11300. https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.202211300.
- Wang, Teng, Andrea Weiss, Ammara Aqeel, Feilun Wu, Allison J. Lopatkin, Lawrence A. David, and Lingchong You. “Horizontal gene transfer enables programmable gene stability in synthetic microbiota.” Nat Chem Biol 18, no. 11 (November 2022): 1245–52. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-022-01114-3.
- Şimşek, Emrah, Yi Yao, Dongheon Lee, and Lingchong You. “Toward predictive engineering of gene circuits.” Trends in Biotechnology, November 2022, S0167-7799(22)00298-0. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.11.001.
- Lu, Jia, Ryan Tsoi, Nan Luo, Yuanchi Ha, Shangying Wang, Minjun Kwak, Yasa Baig, et al. “Distributed information encoding and decoding using self-organized spatial patterns.” Patterns (New York, N.Y.) 3, no. 10 (October 2022): 100590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2022.100590.