Emily Balskus
Dr. Balskus a Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. She is also an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a Faculty Associate of the Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard, and a member of the Harvard Digestive Diseases Center. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2011 Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research, the 2012 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, and the 2013 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. She is also a 2012 Searle Scholar, and was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2014.
Dr. Balskus’ goal is to transform our understanding of microbes and microbial communities, by dissecting microbial metabolism at the molecular level. Through integration of methods in chemistry and microbiology, the Balskus group is developing new and broadly useful approaches for studying the diverse chemical functions of microbes and microbial communities with the ultimate goal of revealing how microbes contribute to human biology, and improving our ability to use and control their remarkable chemical capabilities.
