Karina Gutierrez-Garcia
Assistant Professor
Positions and Education:
- Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2026-present.
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Science, 2019-2025.
- Postdoctoral Fellow, National Laboratory for the Genomics of Biodiversity-LANGEBIO, Irapuato, Mexico, 2017–2019.
- Ph.D., Biotechnology, Center for Investigation and Advanced Studies-CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico, 2017.
- M.S., Applied Biotechnology, Center for Applied Biotechnology-National Polytechnical Institute-CIBA, Tlaxcala, Mexico, 2012.
- B.S., Biology, Autonomous University of Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico, 2009.
Honors and Awards:
- Paul T. Englund Emerging Scholar Award (2024-2025).
Research Interests:
The Gutierrez Lab investigates how bacterial natural products shape communication, competition, and cooperation between microbes and their hosts. Using the Drosophila melanogaster gut microbiome, we integrate genomics, molecular biology, chemistry, and bioinformatics to identify functionally relevant microbial molecules and uncover their roles in complex communities. Our work aims to reveal the molecular basis of symbiosis by combining computational and experimental approaches to discover natural products that promote beneficial host-microbe interactions.