In the Udwary lab, we have constructed a database of bacterial gene clusters from the genomes of every sequenced organism available. Any one of these clusters could produce a novel antibiotic or anticancer agent. The summer project entails the purchase of one or more of these promising organisms from a culture collection, growing the culture, extracting the cells and assaying for bioactivity. As time permits, we will seek to isolate and identify active compounds. A suitable student will have some organic chemistry laboratory knowledge, and interest in natural products, biochemistry, or bioinformatics.