Nature has created many powerful biomolecules that are hidden in organisms across kingdoms of life. Many of these biomolecules originate from microbes, which collectively contain the most diverse gene pool among living organisms. Dr. Alex Gao's lab is integrating high-throughput computational and experimental approaches to harness the vast diversity of genes in microbes to develop new antibiotics and molecular biotechnology, and to investigate the evolution of proteins and molecular mechanisms in innate immunity.