Dr. Thompson is a Professor and Principal Investigator at the University of British Columbia Department of Microbiology & Immunology. His work has led to breakthroughs in bacterial drug resistance mechanisms and identification of novel strategies to combat multi-drug resistance. His published scientific articles have been cited by over 12,000 authors worldwide.

Research Summary
Regulation of bacterial gene expression. The transcriptional regulators we study program antibiotic biosynthesis and resistance as well as differentiated states during colonial morphogenesis in Streptomyces, bacteria that produce the majority of known antibiotics. More recently, we have extended concepts of innate antibiotic resistance and developmental states discovered in Streptomyces to related Mycobacteria, drug resistant pathogens that cause tuberculosis and leprosy.