Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology
and Biological Systems and Engineering
Principal Investigator
vkmutalik@lbl.gov
(415) 342-7487
Vivek Mutalik is a staff scientist in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division and the Biological Systems and Engineering Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, as well as a Principal Investigator at the Innovative Genomics Institute. Within ENIGMA’s Environmental Atlas, Mutalik works in the area of synthetic biology and functional genomics and is focused on developing methods to isolate and study non-model bacterial viruses (phages) and their applications in rational manipulation of microbial communities. Mutalik works on dissecting the molecular mechanisms of microbial interactions and community dynamics, from phage infection cycles to different microbial predation modes. He recently won the Research & Development 100 award for Dub-seq technology, a high-throughput functional genomics technology funded by the ENIGMA Discovery project.
Relevant Publications
Two model phages characterized by new CRISPR based technology extensible to diverse phages - ENIGMA researchers demonstrated for the first time that they can, on a genome-wide scale, identify phage genes that are essential (or not) to infecting bacteria, and then replace non-essential DNA with distinctive barcode tags. Their method could unlock potent biotechnology applications. More →
Multicopy suppressor screens reveal convergent evolution of single-gene lysis proteins - Using new barcoded screening technology, ENIGMA researchers uncovered genome-wide targets of diverse including single-stranded RNA-phages (ssRNA-phages)-derived protein antibiotics to efficiently identify the host mechanisms targeted in bacteriolysis. The novel approach could have significant applications for characterizing the hundreds of putative Sgl identified in genomic databases and recent studies. More →