Dr. Aldridge leads a multidisciplinary research group coupling quantitative single-cell measurements and mathematical modeling with the goal of shortening and simplifying treatment regimens against tuberculosis, which remains a threat to global health, killing ~2 million people every year. The causative agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is thought to infect one third of world’s population, sickening ~10 million people a year. Despite efforts to simplify treatment strategies, tuberculosis still requires months of multi-drug therapy to cure. The Aldridge Laboratory at the Tufts University School of Medicine merges engineering and molecular approaches to develop quantitative descriptions of the determinants of mycobacterial stress tolerance and virulence.