Cremer Lab

The Group

We’re an interdisciplinary team passionate about doing science that’s rigorous, reproducible, and built on open collaboration.

Jonas Cremer

Principal Investigator | January 2020 - present

Jonas Cremer is an Assistant Professor in Biology. He is interested in the physiology and growth of prokaryotes. Jonas studied physics and biophysics in Munich. He was a postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining Stanford, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen. His current research considers various scales of prokaryotic life (from the coordination of fundamental processes within cells to the collective behavior of cells in specific ecological settings), with a focus on gut bacteria and the model organism Escherichia coli.


Théo Gervais

Postdoctoral Scholar | January 2020 - present

Théo Gervais is a Postdoctoral scholar in Biology and is jointly advised by Jonas Cremer and KC Huang. Théo followed an interdisciplinary track with a focus on molecular biology at ENS in Paris. He obtained his PhD in November 2023 from the Biozentrum of Basel University in Switzerland, after studying quantitative microbial physiology, using microfluidics combined with time-lapse fluorescent microscopy and data analysis to study E. coli carbon starvation at the single-cell level. He is interested in quantitatively linking individual bacterial species physiology to the formation of complex communities, and in understanding the importance of relevant environmental variables, such as fluid flow and temporal fluctuations in this process. Outside of the lab, Théo enjoys spending time outdoor, rock-climbing and hiking, or in the kitchen, baking and cooking.


Mathis Leblanc

PhD Student in Biophysics | July 2022 - present

Mathis Leblanc is a graduate student in Biophysics. Trained in protein thermodynamics, Mathis is now interested in the intersection of molecular biophysics and bacterial physiology. He is currently using numerical simulations to investigate the mechanisms of cell-shape regulation in Escherichia coli. Outside of the lab, he can be found playing piano, tea tasting, or reading to reach his annual goodreads goal. Mathis received his B.A. in Biophysics at Johns Hopkins in 2021.


Shaili Mathur

PhD Student in Biology | June 2022- present

Shaili Mathur (she/her) is a PhD student in Biology in the Ecology and Evolution Track, and is jointly advised by Jonas Cremer and Dmitri Petrov. She is interested in combining mathematical, computational and experimental techniques to study complex biological systems in dynamic environments. When she isn't coding or pipetting, Shaili can be found playing ultimate frisbee, cooking, or oil painting. Shaili received her B.S. in Computational and Systems Biology with a minor in Mathematics and M.S. in Bioinformatics from UCLA in 2021.


Leron Perez

PhD Candidate in Biophysics | July 2021 - present

Leron Perez (he/him) is a PhD student Biophysics, and is jointly advised by Jonas Cremer and Drew Endy. Leron is interested in understanding microbial adaptation to uncertain and changing environments to improve synthetic biological design. His current research explores how Escherichia coli in the human gut survive in environments that change faster than protein synthesis can keep up. Outside of the lab, Leron enjoys spending time in nature, playing soccer, and reading. Leron received his B.S. in Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago in 2020.


Richa Sharma

Postdoctoral Scholar | January 2021 - present

Richa Sharma is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the lab since January, 2021. She is mainly interested in understanding the eco-physiology of human gut strains including Escherichia coli and beyond. She is also keen to understand the functional aspects of these resident strains and their impact on human health. She studied Biotechnology in her Bachelors and Energy Studies in Masters. She attained her doctoral degree in Soil Microbial Ecology from Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT Delhi) in November, 2019.


Alumni

  • Griffin Chure (January 2021 - April 2025) — Website — Now at Profluent Bio

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    Griffin Chure

    Previous position: NSF Postdoctoral Fellow

    Griffin Chure (he/him) is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Broadly interested in the physics of adaptation, Griffin uses a combination of physical modeling, experimental dissection, and computational analysis to make quantitative predictions of eco-evolutionary dynamics in static and fluctuating conditions. Beyond obsessing over the microbial world, he is interested in quantifying the myriad ways that humans impact the Earth and understanding how they alter the global biosphere. He studied Biology and Chemistry at the University of Utah (Bachelors) and attained a PhD in Molecular Biophysics from Caltech in 2020.

  • August Burton (July 2022 - August 2023) — Now at University of Rochester SOM

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    August Burton

    Previous position: Summer Undergraduate Researcher

    August Burton is an undergraduate at Stanford University studying Biomedical Computation. He is interested in how the gut microbiome contributes to common gut diseases such as colon cancer, especially through the production of excess hydrogen sulfide. Currently, he uses a combination of bioinformatics and experiments to investigate the gut strains and bacterial proteases involved in hydrogen sulfide production in the large intestine. Outside of school and research, August is an avid participant in sports not quite cool enough to be in the Olympics.

  • Roshali de Silva (January 2020 - August 2023) — Website — Now at Arizona State University

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    Roshali de Silva

    Previous position: Postdoctoral Scholar

    Roshali de Silva is a postdoctoral research scholar at the Department of Biology. She is interested in studying the cell shape dynamics of microbes. Her PhD was focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms behind cell shape changes in haloarchaea. She is currently working on characterizing the cell size variations in Escherichia coli. She completed her Ph.D. in Molecular Microbiology at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia in December 2019. She grew up in Sri Lanka.

  • Rebecca Christensen (RC) (January 2022 - February 2023) — Now at Columbia University

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    Rebecca Christensen (RC)

    Previous position: Research Assistant

    Rebecca Christensen (“RC”, she/her, Hufflepuff) is a Research Assistant in the Cremer lab interested in the relationship between diverse microbial metabolic pathways in the human gut environment and human disease development. Her current research uses a bioinformatics approach to identify gut strains that produce hydrogen sulfide, a colorectal carcinogen, and strains that produce short-chain fatty acids, a major energy source for the gut epithelium. Outside of the world of science, she loves food (both eating and making), roller blading, cats, non-Adam Sandler movies, and anything outdoors!

  • Ali Salari (January 2021 - July 2021)

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    Previous position: Postdoctoral Scholar