Daniel Gage

Professor Daniel Gage is a faculty member in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut (Storrs campus), where he also serves as Associate Head for Undergraduate Research and Education. His research focuses on microbial interactions, particularly symbiotic relationships between bacteria, protists, and plants. Gage holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and completed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University.

His research interests include:

• Regulation of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Sinorhizobium meliloti with alfalfa
• Functional roles of soil protists in plant health and microbial transport
• Evolutionary and metabolic traits of termite gut protists and their endosymbionts
• Development of bacterial biosensors for soil and environmental monitoring
• Microbial dynamics in rhizosphere ecosystems

Current projects involve protist-mediated transport of beneficial bacteria along plant roots, optogenetic control of bacterial biofilms, and genomic analysis of termite gut microbiota. Collaborations with engineers (e.g., Leslie Shor, Yongku Cho) enable interdisciplinary approaches in microfluidics and synthetic biology.

His lab has trained numerous graduate and undergraduate students, many of whom now work in academic, industrial, and clinical settings. The Gage Lab is supported by USDA grants and industry partnerships, focusing on sustainable agricultural applications of microbial systems.

Contact: daniel.gage@uconn.edu, Biology/Physics Building 406