ADVANCING MICROBIAL CHEMISTRY USING CHEMICAL KNOWLEDGE AND ENGINEERING TOOLS
Microbes are the most numerous biological entities on the planet.
They are found on every imaginable surface and environment on Earth, including in and on the human body. Microbes exist in complex communities, known as microbiomes, and use chemistry to interact with other microbes in highly dynamic relationships. These chemical interactions are known to affect the health of their host and/or their ecosystem, yet we have only identified a fraction of the chemistry supported by microbes and we currently lack a complete mechanistic and molecular understanding of how microbial chemistry affects host biology and microbial ecology.
The overarching goal of the Tinoco group is to discover, control, and engineer microbial chemistry to uncover how microbiomes affect human and ecosystem health. We bridge this gap by integrating interdisciplinary approaches taken from chemistry, enzymology, microbiology, and biological engineering. We also apply bioinformatic and AI tools to help inform our discoveries and hypotheses.
Interested in joining?
The Tinoco Lab is hiring! We are an enthusiastic team of chemists, biochemists, chemical biologists, microbiologists, and biological engineers who are interested in investigating the chemistry encoded in microbiomes and its connection to human health. Click below to learn more about how to join!
The Tinoco Lab at UCLA is generously funded by:
