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Roberto Kolter is a professor of Microbiology andMolecular Genetics at Harvard\\u2019s Medical School.\\xa0 Dr. Kolter\\u2019s research interests are broad, but he says his eclectic program boils down to an interest in the ecology and evolution of microbes, bacteria in particular, and on how these forces operate at the molecular level.

Although he\\u2019s worked in a number of different systems, lately Dr. Kolter is spending a lot of time with Bacillus subtilis, a modest little bacterium that doesn\\u2019t get the headlines of a wicked pathogen like Salmonella or a useful industrial workhorse like yeast.\\xa0 What it lacks in notoriety,\\xa0 B. subtilis makes up for in usefulness.\\xa0 According to Dr. Kolter, B. subtilis is an important source of industrial enzymes (as in laundry detergent) and, as a bacterial model, a prolific source of information on how some bacteria make spores and other diverse cell types.\\xa0 This ability to form different kinds of cells is intriguing to Dr. Kolter: B. subtilis cells can wear any of a number of different hats, depending on what is needed at any given moment.\\xa0 From spores to swimming cells to cells that wage chemical warfare on their neighbors, B. subtilis can do it all.\\xa0 Dr. Kolter and his colleagues are looking at the how and the why of this multiplicity.

In the interview, Dr. Merry Buckley talks with Dr. Kolter about what he finds interesting about B. subtilis, why we should start thinking about bacteria as multicellular organisms, and how he got involved in producing a book of poetry (poetry about microbes, that is).

Dr. Kolter also provided the photography for the book Germ Stories by Arthur Kornberg. To see a full description and pricing details, click the ASM estore and pick up your copy today.