Michael Smanski

The overarching goal of research in my lab is to leverage the latest tools in DNA synthesis, assembly, and genome engineering to create and investigate biotechnological solutions to problems in medicine, public health, agriculture, and the environment.

Natural products discovery in the post-genomics era

Natural products, also known as secondary metabolites, are small molecules produced by a variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms that have found tremendous societal value in medicine, agriculture, food production, and energy. One surprising revelation of the past decade of genome sequencing efforts is that many organisms contain the biosynthetic potential for dozens of new natural products that are not produced during normal laboratory cultivation. Our group is developing new tools and strategies to access this largely untapped resource for chemical diversity and to engineer the relevant metabolic pathways for increased production. We are leveraging the latest DNA synthesis and assembly technologies to uncover new enzymatic reactions and explore novel methods for evolving biosynthetic pathways in the lab.

Engineering speciation

Our group has invented a straightforward approach for engineering species-like barriers to sexual reproduction. This has applications in genetic biocontainment (e.g., keeping transgenes in a GMO crop from spreading to other plants) and in genetic pest control (e.g., using organisms like GMO mosquitoes to suppress mosquito populations). We have demonstrated proof-of-concepts in model laboratory organisms and are currently working to translate this technology into applied organisms that will be suitable for field release.

Bioremediation of pollutants

We are currently engineering plants and animals to clean up pollutants in the natural environment. These include plants that can extract and concentrate forever chemicals present in agricultural soils, as well as fish that break down aquatic pollutants. Combined with our ability to control gene flow from GMO organisms, we are paving the way for field applications of genetically engineered organisms.

• B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of California, San Diego (2006)
• Ph.D. in Microbiology, University of Wisconsin (2011)
• HHMI Fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2012-2014)