All these bacteria that coat our skin and live in our intestines, they fend off bad bacteria. They protect us. And you can’t even digest your food without the bacteria that are in your gut. They have enzymes and proteins that allow you to metabolize foods you eat. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
You can find bacteria everywhere. They’re invisible to us. I’ve never seen a bacterium, except under a microscope. They’re so small, we don’t see them, but they are everywhere. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
The goal of scientists is you hope that the thing you’re working on is bigger than the thing you’re pipetting into that tube at that moment. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
It’s a manic-depressive life. You run in here, you open your incubator, your experiment makes no sense, you think, ‘I hate this job.’ Then ten minutes later you think, ‘Well, now, maybe I’ll try this or I’ll try that.’ You do it because you know there will be an ‘a-ha!’ day. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
When antibiotics first came out, nobody could have imagined we’d have the resistance problem we face today. We didn’t give bacteria credit for being able to change and adapt so fast. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
I remember the day we found the gene for the inter-species signaling molecule like it was yesterday. We got the gene, and we plugged it into a database. And we immediately saw that this gene was in an amazing number of species of bacteria. It was a huge moment of realization. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
I think the easiest application to help people understand what quorum sensing is and why it’s important to study is to tell them that if we could make the bacteria either deaf or mute, we could create new antibiotics. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
Bacteria are single-celled organisms. Bacteria are the model organisms for everything that we know in higher organisms. There are 10 times more bacterial cells in you or on you than human cells. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
As a kid, I loved doing puzzles, solving riddles, and reading mystery books. I also loved animals and always had pets. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
If a bacterium is trying to infect you, it won’t secrete alone, because your immune system will block it. Bacteria will hide until they can all act together and make an impact. Bonnie Bassler Read Quote
