Conan Professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine

Division: Laboratory & Genomic Medicine

Dantas Lab

Titles

Division Co-Chief, Laboratory and Genomic Medicine
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Co-Director, DBBS Computational and Systems Biology PhD Program

Education

BA, with honors: Biology and Chemistry, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN (2000)

PhD: Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (2005)

Postdoctoral Fellowship: Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (2009)

Recognition

Violet O. Beltmann Undergraduate Research Scholarship, 1998‐2000

Newcomb Cleveland Prize (AAAS) for Outstanding Publication in Science, 2004

Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, 2008

Kenneth Rainin Foundation Innovator and Breakthrough Awards, 2012-2014

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, 2012-2017

Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation Scholar Award, 2014-2018

Academy of Science-St Louis Innovator Award, 2015

Young Scientist Program Most Active Principal Investigator, 2016

Washington University Distinguished Educator Award, 2018

American Academy of Microbiology Fellow, 2019

DBBS 50th Anniversary Lab Culture Award, 2023

Washington University Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, 2024

Mentorship and Commitment to Diversity

I lead an interdisciplinary research and training group of ~30 full-time and ~10 part-time basic scientists, engineers, and clinicians, spanning formal expertise in microbiology, biochemistry, genomics, pathology, infectious diseases, pediatrics, gastroenterology, dermatology, radiation oncology, ecology and evolution, systems biology, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, biostatistics, and computational biology. I am a member of the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology and an Associate Member of the Siteman Cancer Center. In addition to my research efforts, I am deeply committed to education, mentoring, and training. I am the co-Chief of Research for the Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine. I am also the co-Director of the Computational & Systems Biology (CSB) graduate program, have served on the steering committee for both the CSB and Molecular Microbiology & Microbial Pathogenesis graduate programs, regularly teach in 3 graduate-level courses, and have served on over 100 qualifying exam and thesis committees. In November 2019 I participated in the “Maximizing Research Mentoring Relationships Workshop” led by an NRMN-trained facilitator, and in March 2024 I completed the “Optimizing the Practice of Mentoring 101: For Research Mentors of Graduate Students, Fellows, and Early-Career Faculty” course from the University of Minnesota. Over the past 15 years, I have mentored 18 postdoctoral fellows (12 PhD, 5 MD/PhD, 1 MD), 42 graduate students (including 3 MSTP), 3 medical students, 10 research technicians, and over 100 undergraduate interns. I have graduated 24 PhD, 2 MD/PhD, and 1 MSc students; 3 are independent faculty, 10 are in post-doctoral training, 1 is a K-12 teacher, and 13 work in biotech. 8 of my postdoctoral mentees have earned faculty positions, and 4 work in the biotech industry. I am committed to providing a nurturing, well-supported, and actively mentored environment for my team to collaboratively tackle challenging basic science and translational research problems.

Research Interests

Our research group develops novel technologies to understand, harness, and engineer the biochemical processing potential of microbial communities. We work at the interface of microbial genomics, quantitative ecology, synthetic biology, systems biology, and computational biology to study problems with biotechnological and biomedical relevance. Our current projects are focused on three major themes: ((1) understanding and predicting how diverse microbiomes respond to chemical and biological perturbations, (2) harnessing these insights to rationally design strategies to curtail antibiotic resistant pathogens and remedy pathological host-microbiome states, and (3) engineering microbial platforms for novel industrial and therapeutic applications. More details at http://www.dantaslab.org/research/.


Selected Publications


Assistant

Administrative Assistant II