Vivek Mutalik

Staff Scientist

Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology

Comparative and Functional Genomics

Secondary Affiliation: Biological Systems and Engineering

Organismal Systems & Bioresilience
Biodesign

Building: Aquatic Park Station 717 Potter St #180B, 977-0180B, CA 94710, Room 180B
Mail Stop: 977-180B
VKMutalik@lbl.gov

Programs & Initiatives

BIOFAB

Research Interests

Developing high-throughput functional discovery platform for thousands of microbial genes, phage genes and extending it to metagenomic samples
Discovery of bacteriophage-host interaction determinants, mechanistic insights into antibiotic resistance and phage resistance, and how they impact host fitness
Approaches for doing esigned manipulation of microbial communities
Engineering of phages, phage particles for diverse applications
Rational design of phage cocktails with antibiotics for phage therapy applications
Synthetic genetic parts for phylogenetically distinct and industrially important microbes and rules for their functional composition.

PRESS:

Cataloging Nature’s Hidden Arsenal: Viruses that Infect Bacteria

https://naturemicrobiologycommunity.nature.com/posts/a-tale-of-tailocins-bacterial-stabbing-tools

https://mammoth.bio/2020/10/28/mammoth-interviews-vivek-k-mutalik-phd-scientist-at-lbnl-and-co-founder-of-felix-biotechnology/

https://phage.directory/capsid/interview-vivek-mutalik

How Do You Fight Antibiotic Resistance? Ask a Virus.

Dub-seq Flagship Paper Published in Nature Communications

Dub-seq Wins 2017 R&D100 Award

Predictability: The Brass Ring For Synthetic Biology

Selected Publications
Selected Publications

LinkedIn Profile
ResearchGate Profile

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Exploring the Genetics and Mechanisms of ‘Bacterial Homing Missiles’

April 7, 2021

A team at the Berkeley Lab explored the genetic basis and physical mechanisms of tailocins, bizarre protein nanomachines produced by bacteria to kill their rivals under stressful conditions. These topics, and tailocins as a whole, have spurred the interest of microbiome researchers as well as those interested in pursuing alternatives to traditional antibiotics.

Cataloging Nature’s Hidden Arsenal: Viruses that Infect Bacteria

December 10, 2020

Viruses that infect bacteria, or phages, are continually evolving ways to target and exploit their specific hosts. Their bacterial hosts, in turn, are continually evolving means to evade the phages. These perpetual battles for survival yield incredibly diverse molecular arsenals that researchers are itching to study, yet doing so can be tedious and labor-intensive.

A team led by Berkeley Lab scientists has developed an efficient and inexpensive new method to gain insight into these defensive strategies. They reported in PLOS Biology that a combination of three recently developed techniques can reveal which bacterial receptors phages exploit to infect the cell, as well as what cellular mechanisms the bacteria use to respond to a phage infection.

Dub-seq Flagship Paper Published in Nature Communications

January 21, 2019

Dual barcoded shotgun expression library sequencing, or Dub-seq, is a novel high-throughput method for discovering gene function in microbes under various environmental conditions. It was developed by scientists in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology (EGSB) Division under the aegis of the Ecosystems and Networks Integrated with Genes and Molecular Assemblies (ENIGMA) program. In a seminal paper published January 18 in Nature Communications, the Dub-seq team presented details of the technique and proof-of-concept work showing that the approach is reproducible, economical, scalable, and identifies both known and novel gene functions.