Our laboratory conducts research on fungal systems, but also on the biochemical mechanisms that fungi use to cause disease in humans or to deconstruct/decay lignocellulose biomass. The groups of fungi we work with employ unique, and very interesting, redox-cycling chemistries that allow these organisms to cause damage and/or initiate pathogenesis. Our research has also branched out into the study of the biochemical mechanisms that the fungi use to mimic their action. This allows us  to study disease mechanisms more readily, or to develop "biomimetic" processes. One biomimetic process we are exploring in the lab now with an international consortium of colleagues is in the deconstruction of biomass for future "biorefinery" applications. In the biomedical realm, we are also exploring how related redox-cycling chemistries may promote neurodegenerative disease when these chemistries are triggered in specific organelles, or in mass lesions in the brain.