About

About the laboratory.

The Pride Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego studies the human virome — the vast community of viruses, especially bacteriophages, that lives within us — and works to harness bacteriophages as therapies for the world's most difficult bacterial infections.

Who we are

The lab spans two arms: a basic-research laboratory on the UCSD main campus, and a clinical-microbiology laboratory — PALMS, the Pandemic Applications Laboratory and Microbiology Service — embedded in UCSD's clinical testing operation.

Our mission

We investigate how viral communities shape human health and disease — and we develop bacteriophage cocktails to treat infections that no longer respond to antibiotics, with a patient-first, non-commercial philosophy.

What we do

01

Human virome & microbiome research

Mapping the viruses of the mouth, gut, urinary tract, cerebrospinal fluid, breast milk and skin — how they move between people, and how they respond to antibiotics.

The research
02

Phage therapy

Building and evolving phage collections — Achromobacter, S. aureus, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, E. coli and Salmonella — to treat infections that no longer respond to antibiotics.

The phage program
03

Clinical & diagnostic microbiology

PALMS — the Pandemic Applications Laboratory and Microbiology Service — advancing clinical testing and pandemic response inside UCSD's clinical operation.

PALMS Lab

Led by

David T. Pride, MD PhD

Director of the Clinical Molecular Microbiology Laboratory and Associate Director of the Microbiology Laboratory at UCSD, Dr. Pride runs a research laboratory dedicated to human microbiome and human virome work.

Join the lab

We regularly host students, visiting scholars and research associates — a lab that spans discovery and the clinic.

Reach us at phages@ucsd.edu. Current status pending confirmation.