Unraveling the rules of microbiomes

Communities of microbes (microbiomes) play important roles in human health and disease, agriculture and plant growth, environmental management and many more critical processes. Until recently, however, microbiologists focused on microbes in isolation. As a result, we do not know much about how they function when they come together in complex communities.

The Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics is developing an integrated understanding of microbiomes. Our goal is to establish general functional principles that can explain and predict the behavior of microbial communities for a variety of applications.

Director

Ferran Garcia-Pichel, PhD

Ferran Garcia-Pichel’s current focus on microbial adaptations involves studying mechanisms carbonate dissolution, the production of sunscreen compounds and the microbial ability to produce hydrogen from water. Current applied aspects of his research include developing strategies for the sustainable recovery of degraded arid lands and searching for novel microbial capacities and products that have potential use in biomedicine and technology.