Michael G. Thomas

Michael G. Thomas is a Full Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, holding the E.B. Fred Professorship since 2015. He leads research in microbial secondary metabolism, bioenergy, and metallomics, with affiliations in the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program and Chemical Biology Interface Program. His lab focuses on engineering bacterial enzymes for natural product discovery and biofuel byproduct valorization.

Education: B.S. (Rutgers, 1992), M.S. (Washington State, 1994), Ph.D. (UW-Madison, 1999), postdoc at Harvard Medical School. Research interests span enzyme evolution mechanisms, bioenergy conversion residue utilization, and human microbiota metallophore discovery.

Key awards include the 2010 CALS Pound Award and Alfred Toepfer Fellowship (2006-2008). Lab personnel include graduate students Caroline Haynie, Lilia Shallow, and Tony Yao, along with scientist Caryn Wadler. Collaborations extend to institutions like GLBRC and involve interdisciplinary teams addressing bioproduct engineering and microbial metabolomics.