Our group works in complementary areas of basic and applied biology with the overarching theme being the creation of functional molecules that lead to biological breakthroughs. The functional molecules we are creating vary in terms of size (small molecules to proteins to engineered organisms) and discovery method (rational design to unbiased evolution). In all cases, our ultimate goal is to leverage new chemical and molecular technologies to better understand and treat human disease. Currently, we are pursuing three primary research areas: