Benjamin Wolfe

Research in the Wolfe lab has two broad research goals: 1) identify the molecular mechanisms that control the assembly and function of microbial communities, 2) determine how microbial species evolve within multi-species communities. Most of our research projects focus on food microbiomes, including fermented foods such as cheese, sourdough, and kimchi. Projects in my lab integrate experimental evolution, metagenomics, comparative genomics/transcriptomics, genome engineering, and in situ community reconstructions. Our work seeks to develop microbial community design principles that can guide the management of microbial communities in agriculture, industry, medicine, and nature.