Eukaryotes, including humans and marine organisms, are 'petri dishes', hosting an abundant and a rich prokaryotic 'microbiome'. The Garg Lab aims to understand the molecular interactions between a eukaryotic host and its microbiome, and how these molecular interactions dictate health and disease. Using a concoction of innovative tools including Mass Spectrometry-based metabolomics, DNA sequencing, Bioinformatics, Clinical Microbiology, and Mass spectrometry-based 2D and 3D spatial imaging (spatial metabolomics), we aim to delineate specific molecules that modulate the dynamics of microbial involvement in response to genetic and environmental triggers of disease (link phenotypes to molecules). We characterize the biosynthesis of these small molecule natural products to innovate developement of new therapeutics.
