Scott Saunders

Scott Saunders is a Research Fellow in the Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, affiliated with the Cecil H. and Ida Green Center of Systems Biology. He completed his PhD at Caltech under Dianne Newman, studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm physiology, followed by postdoctoral work with Rob Phillips on E. coli transcriptional regulation. His lab develops high-throughput genetic methods like ORBIT to explore bacterial genomics and antibiotic resistance. He leads the Saunders Lab, which focuses on uncovering functional genomic elements in bacteria using precise mutant library creation. Contact: scott.saunders@utsouthwestern.edu.

Education:

• PhD in Biology, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 2020
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Caltech, 2020-2022

Research Interests: The lab investigates bacterial genomics and physiology, particularly in E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Key areas include:
- Uncovering functions of uncharacterized genes via high-throughput screening
- Developing the ORBIT system for precise genetic modifications
- Understanding antibiotic resistance mechanisms
- Exploring extracellular electron transfer pathways in biofilms

Labs/Teams: Leads the Saunders Lab, collaborating with the Green Center for Systems Biology. Active in synthetic biology and genomic-scale research initiatives.