Jeffrey Tabor

Jeffrey Tabor is a Professor of Bioengineering & Biosciences at Rice University, leading the Tabor Lab. His research focuses on programming bacteria to sense and respond to environmental stimuli for medical and biotechnological applications. He has pioneered optogenetic tools, engineered diagnostic/therapeutic bacteria, and studied bacterial two-component systems (TCSs) in human pathogens and microbiomes.

Education: B.A. Biology (University of Texas, 2001), Ph.D. Molecular Biology (2006), Postdoc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at UCSF (2006–2010).

Research Interests:

• Development of synthetic biology tools to reprogram bacterial behavior
• Engineering TCSs for disease diagnosis and antimicrobial discovery
• Optogenetic control of bacterial metabolism and gene expression
• Microbiome engineering for gastrointestinal and urogenital tract therapies

Key Contributions:

• Identified TCSs sensing pH, sulfur metabolites, and neuropeptides in microbiota
• Engineered gut bacteria to detect inflammation in Crohn’s disease models
• Developed inhibitors targeting Staphylococcus aureus virulence pathways

Awards:

• AIMBE Fellow (2020)
• NSF CAREER Award (2016)
• ONR Young Investigator (2014)

Advising & Grants: Tabor has secured federal grants and served on review panels. His lab emphasizes interdisciplinary training, co-organizing major synthetic biology conferences and Cold Spring Harbor courses.

Labs & Teams: The Tabor Lab collaborates with the Engineering Biology Research Consortium and ACS Synthetic Biology editorial board, advancing synthetic biology’s translational impact.