Neha Garg

Neha Garg serves as an Associate Professor at the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, holding joint affiliations with the Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infectious Disease and the Center for Cystic Fibrosis Airway Disease Research. Her laboratory operates from the Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB 4016) in Atlanta.

Her academic journey includes a B.S. from University Institute of Engineering and Technology (India, 2006), M.S. from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2008) under Professor Saroj Mishra, a DAAD Fellowship at Technical University Berlin with Professor Marion Ansorge Schumacher, Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2013) under Professors Wilfred A. van der Donk and Satish Nair, and postdoctoral training with Professor Pieter C. Dorrestein at UC San Diego. She joined Georgia Tech faculty in 2017.

Garg's research centers on chemical microbiology to decipher molecular interactions between eukaryotic hosts and microbiomes using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, spatial imaging, genomics, and clinical microbiology. Her lab investigates how microbial communities produce specialized metabolites that modulate health and disease states in humans and marine organisms, particularly focusing on cystic fibrosis and coral diseases. The Garg Lab employs untargeted metabolomics, 2D/3D spatial imaging, and bioinformatics to link phenotypic changes to specific molecules, with emphasis on natural product discovery and chemical ecology.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals dominant themes in marine microbiome metabolomics (32%), host-pathogen chemical interactions (28%), analytical method development (24%), and coral disease ecology (16%). Her work increasingly integrates artificial intelligence with mass spectrometry data analysis while maintaining strong focus on cystic fibrosis and coral disease models.

• 2025 Matt Suffness Young Investigators Symposium Award (American Society of Pharmacognosy)
• 2024-26 College of Sciences Blanchard Early Career Professorship
• 2024 Natural Product Reports Emerging Investigator Lectureship
• 2023 NIH MIRA (R35) for Early Stage Investigators
• 2023 ACS Academic Young Investigator Award
• 2021 NSF CAREER Award
• Multiple teaching excellence awards (2022 Vasser Woolley, 2022 Junior Faculty Teaching)

Garg directs the Garg Lab within Georgia Tech's Microbiome@GaTech initiative, leading research on microbial community dynamics in human respiratory and marine coral systems. Her lab develops innovative mass spectrometry tools for spatial metabolomics while maintaining active collaborations with clinical microbiologists and marine ecologists. Current research focuses on stony coral tissue loss disease mechanisms and cystic fibrosis airway microbiome interactions, supported by substantial NIH and NSF funding including the prestigious MIRA and CAREER awards. The lab actively trains undergraduate and graduate students in interdisciplinary chemical microbiology approaches.