Linda J KENNEY
Alumni, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Celebrating the Chan lab’s 5th Anniversary with its first ever Lab retreat!
Lots of fun sharing crazy science and round table discussions on career development and lab culture.
Ariell Smith
Research Fellow, Young Group
Kong Mengya
Research Fellow, Bershadsky Lab
Linda J Kenney
Alumni
Research Areas
Signal transduction in bacteria; Bacterial Pathogenesis; Mechanotransduction and osmotic signaling in E. coli; Mechanisms of anti-silencing of virulence genes in Salmonella
Research Interests
Our laboratory is interested in signal transduction and the regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes. In particular, we are studying the two-component regulatory system EnvZ/OmpR that regulates the expression of outer membrane proteins as well as many other genes. Our present work focuses on how OmpR activates genes required for systemic infection (located on Salmonella pathogenicity island 2) in Salmonella enterica.
The Kenney Lab’s research was recently featured in an article exploring the bacterial molecular switch between virulence or dormancy, Salmonella Lifestyle Choices. Members of her lab have discovered that the bacterial protein SsrB is the molecular switch for determining whether Salmonella infections become acute and virulent, or remain in a dormant carrier state.
The study is published in eLife (Desai et al., The horizontally-acquired response regulator SsrB drives a Salmonella lifestyle switch by relieving biofilm silencing, February 2, 2016, eLife 2016; 5: e10747, doi: 10.7554/eLife.10747). Read full article.
Biography
Dr Kenney is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Her laboratory studies two-component systems in bacteria that control gene expression at a single cell and nanometer level.
Professor Linda J Kenney and Professor Michael Sheetz interviewed by the Washington Post at the April 2017 March for Science.
Education
PhD University of Pennsylvania
Recent Publications
- Fernandez M, Yamanaka Y, Zangoui P, White MA, and Kenney LJ. The sulfur assimilation pathway mitigates redox stress from acidic pH in Salmonella Typhi H58. mBio 2025;:e0046725. [PMID: 40422406]
- Shetty D, and Kenney LJ. A pH-sensitive switch activates virulence in Salmonella. Elife 2023; 12. [PMID: 37706506]
- Oh D, Liu X, Sheetz MP, and Kenney LJ. Small, Dynamic Clusters of Tir-Intimin Seed Actin Polymerization. Small 2023;:e2302580. [PMID: 37649226]
- Mon KKZ, Si Z, Chan-Park MB, and Kenney LJ. Polyimidazolium Protects against an Invasive Clinical Isolate of Salmonella Typhimurium. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2022;:e0059722. [PMID: 36094258]
- Jacob H, Geng H, Shetty D, Halow N, Kenney LJ, and Nakano MM. Distinct Interaction Mechanism of RNAP and ResD and Distal Subsites for Transcription Activation of Nitrite Reductase in Bacillus subtilisψ. J Bacteriol 2021;:JB0043221. [PMID: 34898263]
- Singh MK, Zangoui P, Yamanaka Y, and Kenney LJ. Genetic code expansion enables visualization of Salmonella type three secretion system components and secreted effectors. Elife 2021; 10. [PMID: 34061032]
- Kenney LJ, and Anand GS. EnvZ/OmpR Two-Component Signaling: An Archetype System That Can Function Noncanonically. EcoSal Plus 2020; 9(1). [PMID: 32003321]
- Desai SK, and Kenney LJ. Switching Lifestyles Is an in vivo Adaptive Strategy of Bacterial Pathogens. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019; 9:421. [PMID: 31921700]
- Desai SK, Padmanabhan A, Harshe S, Zaidel-Bar R, and Kenney LJ. Salmonella biofilms program innate immunity for persistence in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2019;. [PMID: 31160462]
- Ottemann KM, and Kenney LJ. Editorial overview: Host-pathogen interactions: bacteria. Curr. Opin. Microbiol. 2019; 47:iii-v. [PMID: 31138403]
Lab Members
Great to host Saanjbati Adhikari, Reviews Editor at Development, at MBI
Saanjbati gave a lovely seminar to the MBI community on publishing in Development and her personal journey in academic publishing. It was also a huge privilege to share my own research journey through the Transitions in Development series (read here).
Check out the latest preprint from the lab!
Dual curvature sensing governs cell orientation and curvotaxis. Read the preprint here!
Welcoming the latest summer interns to the lab!
The Chan Lab kicked off the summer by welcoming our incoming interns over a hearty meal together!
Building the Future of Cell Biology Together at Cell Bio 2026
Professor Rong Li, President of the American Society for Cell Biology calls for participation for Cell Bio 2026 in San Diego. The meeting will feature more than 400 scientific talks and over 2,500 poster presentations, alongside symposia, minisymposia, and special interest subgroup sessions selected by the Program Committee directly from member-suggested topics.
Seeking Research Assistant in the labs of Dr. Natalie Dye and Dr. Alphée Michelot at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking a Research Assistant to join the labs of Dr. Natalie Dye and Dr. Alphée Michelot at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS.
Seeking Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Vascular Mechano-medicine Lab led by Dr. Shailaja Seetharaman at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
We are seeking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the research group of Dr. Shailaja Seetharaman at the Mechanobiology Institute and Department of Physiology at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS.
A Cell Never Forgets: How Prior Environments Affect Confined Cell Migration
Researchers from the Holle Lab at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS discover that cells retain mechanical memory that influences subsequent migration despite environmental changes, suggesting broader implications for understanding wound healing, fibrosis and cancer metastasis.
The Young Lab Welcome Visitors from Raffles Girls’ School!
The Young Lab hosted visitors from Raffles Girls' School as part of MBI's outreach event.
Force sensing in cells at the single molecule level
Professor Yan Jie and his team from the Mechanobiology Institute collaborated with Professor Liu Xiaogang from the Department of Chemistry, NUS, to determine the exact force needed to activate Piezo1, via a DNA-based approach.
MBI Hosts Students from Raffles Girls School!
MBI hosted students from Raffles Girls School on 28 April 2026, for an outreach session designed to spark curiosity about mechanobiology and research careers.
Farewell Avery, All the Best!
Farewell to Dr. Avery Rui Sun, a former PhD student at the Young Lab from 2021-2026!
Ting, Hatice and Raageshwari in ASBTE Conference 2026
The Young Lab attends the 2026 Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (ASBTE) from 30 Mar-2 Apr 2026!
