title: A love affair with Bacillus subtilis.
abstract: My career in science was launched when I was an undergraduate at Princeton University and reinforced by graduate training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, it was only after I moved to Harvard University as a junior fellow that my affections were captured by a seemingly mundane soil bacterium. What Bacillus subtilis offered was endless fascinating biological problems (alternative sigma factors, sporulation, swarming, biofilm formation, stochastic cell fate switching) embedded in a uniquely powerful genetic system. Along the way, my career in science became inseparably interwoven with teaching and mentoring, which proved to be as rewarding as the thrill of discovery.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 01238 losick@mcb.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Losick
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012808:Sigma Factor; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
keywords: Bacillus; Biofilm; Differentiation; RNA Polymerase; Sporulation