Microbes in natural systems form complex spatially-structured communities with sustained interactions that are critical drivers of overall community function. These interactions are a direct result of the microbes metabolic capabilities and their spatial arrangement relative to one another, and in infection sites can have important clinical outcomes including increased antibiotic tolerance and disease severity. Although synergies between microbes in infection have been recognized for over 150 years, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Further, research into microbial community structure and how metabolites are exchanged during infection has been technically limited by the difficulty in studying these complex interactions while retaining spatial information. Research in the Ibberson lab aims to address these knowledge gaps and determine the rules of how microbes interact within an infection environment. The Ibberson lab characterizes the physiological, molecular, spatial, and ecological mechanisms that determine how microbes interact in complex polymicrobial communities with an interdisciplinary approach that integrates, genetic, computational, microscopy, and omics-based approaches with classic microbiological techniques. The ultimate goal of the Ibberson Lab is to define the “rules” of how microbes interact in structured host communities and the impacts of these interactions on community function and host health.