Synthetic Phage Biology

The Synthetic Phage Biology (SynPhage) group investigates biological innovations arising from the evolutionary arms race between bacteria and phages. The lab studies how phages reprogram host physiology, how bacteria detect infection and mount antiviral responses, and how antiphage defenses diversify under viral predation. As bacterial antiphage defenses have repeatedly transformed biotechnology, from restriction enzymes to CRISPR-Cas, SynPhage seeks to understand their functional diversity and harness it for the next generation of molecular tools.