Joseph Bondy-Denomy, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UCSF. Joe received his BSc in Biology from the University of Waterloo and his PhD at the University of Toronto, working with Alan Davidson in the Department of Molecular Genetics. His graduate work focused on the co-evolutionary arms race between bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) and their hosts. This work led Joe to study an immune system that bacteria possess to protect them from phages, called CRISPR-Cas. He serendipitously made the discovery that numerous phages infecting the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce proteins that inhibit CRISPR-Cas function through direct interactions with the Cas proteins. Since joining UCSF as a PI, the Bondy-Denomy lab continued to study how phages and other MGEs antagonize or evade CRISPR-Cas nucleases. The lab is also pursuing the discovery of new bacterial immune systems and phage-host interaction paradigms, including understanding how phages adapt to cyclic nucleotide-based defense systems. His laboratory uses a combination of molecular, microbiological, biochemical, and bioinformatic approaches to identify and characterize novel aspects of bacterial immune systems. Work in the Bondy-Denomy lab will enhance our understanding of bacterial evolution, genome editing, and the world of phage therapeutics against deadly bacterial pathogens.
 

Bondy-Denomy Lab