Prof. Ming Hammond, PhD
Research Summary
The Hammond lab seeks to understand how bacteria use chemical signals to regulate different behaviors. Elucidating signaling pathways that control these single-celled organisms lays the foundation for new ways to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria and to better harness the industrial potential of other bacteria. A hallmark of our research program is a dual focus on nucleic acids as engineerable biosensors and as novel signaling agents, and our work spans the fields of chemical biology, synthetic biology, and bacterial signaling.
“As an alumna of the Beckman Scholar Program, it is an honor to get to “pay it forward” by serving on the Executive Committee and contributing to the future of this outstanding program for undergraduate research. The Beckman Symposium was one of my first research conferences, and I recall many other formative experiences as a Beckman Scholar that, along with the support of my undergraduate research mentor, gave me the confidence and skills to pursue an academic and research career.