Professor, University of Washington, Seattle.
Dr. Parsek’s research involves the study of bacterial communities. This research focuses on two aspects that are closely related. Quorum sensing is a term used to describe the regulation of gene expression according to population densities, and it constitutes a rudimentary communication system between bacteria that allows them to coordinate behavior at the community level. His team are also interested in the surface-attached bacterial communities called biofilms. These bacteria are held together by an extracellular matrix.