معرفی
Dr. Mehmet Orman is an Associate Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering. His research focuses on persister cells—drug-tolerant subpopulations in bacterial and cancer cell populations—and their metabolic and molecular mechanisms of tolerance. He leads the Orman Lab, which investigates how these rare cells evade antibiotics and contribute to disease recurrence.
Dr. Orman holds a B.S. (2005), M.S. (2007) in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU, Turkey), and a Ph.D. (2011) in Chemical & Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University.
His research integrates microbiology, systems biology, and engineering principles to study persister cell physiology, including metabolic pathways, stress responses, and drug interactions. Key areas include:
- Metabolic regulation of persister formation and resuscitation
- Antibiotic tolerance mechanisms in Escherichia coli and cancer cells
- High-throughput screening of chemical compounds targeting persistence
- Single-cell tracking to analyze bacterial-mammalian interactions
Recent work highlights metabolic disruption’s role in antibiotic tolerance and explores pulse-dosing strategies to eradicate persistent bacteria. His lab also addresses translational applications, such as developing therapies to combat recurrent infections and cancers.
Dr. Orman’s contributions include over 50 peer-reviewed articles and grants funded by agencies like the NSF (CAREER Award, 2021). He actively mentors graduate students and collaborates with institutions globally to advance microbial and cancer cell research.
