Hello, I'm Colin Barber

I am a fourth-year graduate student in Microbiology at UC Berkeley. My research focuses on the discovery and biological function of microbial specialized metabolites, also known as natural products. I am particularly interested in the chemistry and biology of specialized metabolites in the nasal-oral cavity and rare alkynyl biomolecules. More information on my research can be found here.

I am strongly interested in community building efforts in science, especially in relation to science education. In addition to leadership roles in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley, I have lead multiple projects in Science Olympiad, a national STEM competition for middle and high school students. More information on my role in Science Olympiad can be found here. I document other service and leadership experience here.

In what time I have left, I dearly enjoy brewing hazy IPAs, reading historical nonfiction, and playing music, especially for cello and the Renaissance and Baroque period viola da gamba, though I dabble in jam music on electric bass too, drawing especially on the Grateful Dead songbook. (Unexpectedly, a strong tradition of improvisation unites both Baroque music and Grateful Dead-style jam.) Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, comments, or points of conversation!