Lipid-bounded organelles are touted as a defining feature of eukaryotes–one which is absent from the architecturally primitive bacteria. However, numerous bacteria use lipid-bounded organelles to execute essential, and at times toxic, biochemical reactions. The Komeili group has pioneered the use of the magnetosome organelles of magnetotactic bacteria as a model for understanding the bacterial organelles. … Continued
I study the signaling and regulatory events governing interactions between plant pathogens and their hosts. Specifically, I seek to understand the strategies used by bacterial pathogens to colonize and cause disease on their plant hosts by identifying pathogen virulence factors and elucidating their mode of action in within the plant. The main study system in … Continued
My lab is interested in biological control, with “control” meant in its engineering sense: execution of strategies for achieving useful ends, such as precision, robustness, efficiency and speed. Control questions are posed in the context of developmental and regenerative biology, and address long-standing puzzles in areas such as pattern formation, growth regulation, the origins of … Continued
Our research is directed toward elucidating the evolution of bacterial genomes, including their size, composition, variability and organization. In other words, why do genomes have the genes that they do? An understanding of the evolutionary process that leads to differences in genomes will shed light on how species themselves differentiate. We take computations, theoretical and … Continued
The Kiger laboratory is studying central roles for cellular membrane trafficking that controls tissue remodeling and homeostasis. We have uncovered how spatiotemporal regulation of specific lipids coordinate dynamic cellular organization. Using a foundation in genetic and cell biology experiments in the fruit fly, Drosophila, we have linked specific lipid kinase and phosphatase activities to cellular … Continued
The goal of our lab is to develop artificially intelligent systems to translate a patient’s genome into precision diagnosis and treatment. Our premise is that this task will ultimately require comprehensive information about the structure of biological systems, including the internal organization of cells and tissues. With this principle in mind, we are developing methods … Continued
The research in my laboratory focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate brain development maintenance and function. I have a broad background in molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, and neurobiology. As a graduate student, I employed the invertebrate model organism C. elegans, and made significant contributions to the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) … Continued
I am the Managing General Partner for DCVCBio, a $250M life science venture capital fund, investing at the interface of artificial intelligence and the life sciences. I have spent more than a decade in life science venture capital in the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously, I have led Monsanto Growth Ventures, the VC arm of … Continued
My research group investigates how bacteria achieve complex social behaviors that are relevant for living within a human or animal. We specifically ask how bacteria can distinguish self from non-self to form physically separated populations, how bacteria can communicate with one another, and how these microscopic organisms can coordinate cell shape and cell-cell interactions to … Continued
The current focus of my lab is biomedical genomics, specifically applications of transcriptomics for personalized medicine. While a Packard Fellow, I helped bring the tools of genome science to studies of development and evolution through the study of quantitative traits, like wing shape in Drosophila. With the revolution in technology that accompanied completion of the … Continued