Biology Department Faculty
Babak Momeni
Associate Professor
Babak Momeni
Ph.D.
Contact
Higgins Hall 420A
Telephone: 617-552-3986
Email: babak.momeni@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0003-1271-5196
Education
- Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
Research Interests
Systems biology of microbial communities; mathematical modeling of biological systems; microbial ecology.
Department
Research
Communities of interacting microbes are abundant in nature and play critical roles at virtually all levels of life, ranging from global carbon cycling to the formation of oral cavities. Microbial communities can benefit us as resident microbiome, for example by facilitating food digestion or by blocking harmful pathogens. They can also harm us, for instance by causing persistent infections in slow-healing wounds or in lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Through interactions among species, microbial communities exhibit overall functions that cannot be achieved efficiently by any single member species. The aim of the lab is to understand how cell-level interactions among members lead to such community-level functions.
Complexity of natural microbial communities (involving many species, multitude of interactions, and non-steady environment) has impeded attempts to discover the link between community interactions and functions. To study microbial communities, our lab instead examines communities at different levels of complexity to search for general governing principles. These include simulated in silico communities, synthetic communities of microbes engineered to engage in defined interactions, and simple microbial communities isolated from nature. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we combine quantitative experimentation with mathematical modeling to discover interactions and to explain functions that arise from those interactions. Our long-term goal is to devise strategies to control microbial communities. This will have broad impact in biomedical applications (e.g. managing microbial infections), environmental applications (e.g. degrading waste), as well as industrial applications (e.g. producing biofuels).
Selected Publications
Biology
- Zaccaria M, Dedrick S, Momeni B. Modeling Microbial Communities: A Call for Collaboration between Experimentalists and Theorists. Processes. 2017 September 25; 5(4):53. doi:10.3390/pr5040053
- Momeni B, Xie L, Shou W. Lotka-Volterra pairwise modeling fails to capture diverse pairwise microbial interactions. Elife. 2017 Mar 28;6. pii: e25051. doi:10.7554/eLife.25051.
- Widder, S., R. Allen, T. Pfeiffer, T. Curtis, C. Wiuf, W. Sloan, O. Cordero, S. Brown, B. Momeni, W. Shou, H. Kettle, H. Flint, A. Haas, B. Laroche, J.-U. Kreft, P. Rainey, S. Freilich, S. Schuster, K. Milferstedt, J. Roelof Van der Meer, T. Grosskopf, J. Huisman, A. Free, C. Picioreanu, C. Quince, I. Klapper, S. Labarthe, B. Smets, H. Wang, Isaac Newton Institute Fellows, O. Soyer. 2016. “Challenges in microbial ecology: building predictive understanding of community function and dynamics.” ISME J (March). doi:10.1038/ismej.2016.45.Kang, S., S. Kahan, and B. Momeni. 2014. “Simulating Microbial Community Patterning Using Biocellion.” Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.) 1151: 233–53. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-0554-6_16.
- Momeni, B., A. Waite, and W. Shou. 2013. “Spatial Self-Organization Favors Heterotypic Cooperation over Cheating.” eLife 2 (November): e00960. doi:10.7554/eLife.00960.
- Momeni, B., K. Brileya, M. Fields, and W. Shou. 2013. “Strong Inter-Population Cooperation Leads to Partner Intermixing in Microbial Communities.” eLife, 2 (January): e00230. doi:10.7554/eLife.00230.
- Momeni, B., and W. Shou. 2012. “Cryosectioning Yeast Communities for Examining Fluorescence Patterns,” Journal of Visual Experimentation, 70: e50101. doi:10.3791/50101.
- Momeni, B., C. –C. Chen, K. Hillesland, A. Waite, and W. Shou. 2011. “Using Artificial Systems to Explore the Ecology and Evolution of Symbioses.” Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences: CMLS 68 (8): 1353–68. doi:10.1007/s00018-011-0649-y.
Technology
- Momeni, B., M. Askari, E. Shah Hosseini, A. Atabaki, and A. Adibi. 2010. “An on-Chip Silicon Grating Spectrometer Using a Photonic Crystal Reflector.” Journal of Optics 12 (3): 035501. doi:10.1088/2040-8978/12/3/035501.
- Chamanzar, M., M. Soltani, B. Momeni, S. Yegnanarayanan, and A. Adibi. 2010. “Hybrid Photonic Surface-Plasmon-Polariton Ring Resonators for Sensing Applications.” Applied Physics B 101 (1-2): 263–71. doi:10.1007/s00340-010-4034-6.
- Momeni, B., E. Shah Hosseini, M. Askari, M. Soltani, and A. Adibi. 2009. “Integrated Photonic Crystal Spectrometers for Sensing Applications.” Optics Communications 282 (15): 3168–71. doi:10.1016/j.optcom.2009.04.052.
- Momeni, B., E. Shah Hosseini, and A. Adibi. 2009. “Planar Photonic Crystal Microspectrometers in Silicon-Nitride for the Visible Range.” Optics Express 17 (19): 17060–69. doi:10.1364/OE.17.017060.
- Momeni, B., S. Yegnanarayanan, M. Soltani, A. A. Eftekhar, E. Shah Hosseini, and A. Adibi. 2009. “Silicon Nanophotonic Devices for Integrated Sensing.” Journal of Nanophotonics 3 (1): 031001–031001 – 23. doi:10.1117/1.3122986.
- Momeni, B., M. Chamanzar, E. Shah Hosseini, M. Askari, M. Soltani, and A. Adibi. 2008. “Strong Angular Dispersion Using Higher Bands of Planar Silicon Photonic Crystals.” Optics Express 16 (18): 14213–20. doi:10.1364/OE.16.014213.
- Momeni, B., A. A. Eftekhar, and A. Adibi. 2007. “Effective Impedance Model for Analysis of Reflection at the Interfaces of Photonic Crystals.” Optics Letters 32 (7): 778–80. doi:10.1364/OL.32.000778.
- Tay, S., J. Thomas, B. Momeni, M. Askari, A. Adibi, P. J. Hotchkiss, S. C. Jones, S. R. Marder, R. A. Norwood, and N. Peyghambarian. 2007. “Planar Photonic Crystals Infiltrated with Nanoparticle/polymer Composites.” Applied Physics Letters 91 (22): 221109–221109 – 3. doi:10.1063/1.2817964.
- Momeni, B., J. Huang, M. Soltani, M. Askari, S. Mohammadi, M. Rakhshandehroo, and A. Adibi. 2006. “Compact Wavelength Demultiplexing Using Focusing Negative Index Photonic Crystal Superprisms.” Optics Express 14 (6): 2413–22. doi:10.1364/OE.14.002413.
- Momeni, B., and A. Adibi. 2005. “An Approximate Effective Index Model for Efficient Analysis and Control of Beam Propagation Effects in Photonic Crystals.” Journal of Lightwave Technology 23 (3): 1522.
- Momeni, B., and A. Adibi. 2005. “Adiabatic Matching Stage for Coupling of Light to Extended Bloch Modes of Photonic Crystals.” Applied Physics Letters 87 (17): 171104. doi:10.1063/1.2115081.
- Momeni, B., and A. Adibi. 2003. “Optimization of Photonic Crystal Demultiplexers Based on the Superprism Effect.” Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics 77 (6-7): 555–60. doi:10.1007/s00340-003-1287-3.