Prof. Mark Liles is microbiologist in the Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University. He has a B.S. in Biology from Tulane University, a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Northwestern University (1998), and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the labs of Prof. Jo Handelsman and Prof. Bob Goodman. Over the past 30+ years in science, he has developed methods for community genomic (“metagenomic”) analysis of complex microbial communities and developed treatments for the control of disease in agriculture, aquaculture and human medicine. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 150 published abstracts and is an inventor on four awarded patents with other patents pending. He co-Founded the biotechnology company Varigen Biosciences and serves as President of the company.