Ongoing Research
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How Pathogenic Bacteria Build Pili
The Clubb Lab uses multidisciplinary approaches to uncover how Gram-positive bacterial pathogens build pili and other surface structures that allow them to attach to tissues, form biofilms, and evade immune defenses. This research provides insight into bacterial virulence and lays the groundwork for developing therapies to combat antibiotic-resistant infections.
A central focus of our research is pili—hair-like protein filaments that act like grappling hooks, enabling bacterial pathogens to attach to host...
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Starving Pathogens: Targeting Heme Acquisition
Bacterial pathogens survive in the human host by evading iron sequestration. Our lab studies how they hijack heme from hemoglobin—a process critical for their survival and virulence. Using structural biology, biophysics, proteomics, and protein engineering, we aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms of heme capture and find new ways to block it to combat infectious disease.
Our recent studies highlight the remarkable strategies of Gram-positive pathogens such as Corynebacterium diphtheriae,...
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Decoding Microbial Machines
The Clubb Lab at the UCLA–DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics studies how bacteria build and control cellulosomes—large enzyme complexes that efficiently break down plant polysaccharides. These systems are central to microbial carbon use and have broad relevance to bioenergy, biotechnology, and the human gut microbiome.
Our work reveals how cellulolytic bacteria dynamically tailor cellulosome composition in response to environmental cues through membrane-embedded cell-surface receptors that sense extracellular...
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