Plants, fungi, and bacteria are prolific producers of natural products, small molecules that have been evolutionarily primed to protect against predators and disease. Inspired by these natural products and the ecological systems that produce them, the Caesar Research Group uses analytical chemistry, chemical biology, and natural products chemistry to investigate these systems in the ecological contexts in which they evolved to discover bioactive molecules for combating disease.

• PhD in Medicinal Biochemistry, 2019, University of North Carolina Greensboro
• MS in Plant and Environmental Science, 2015, Clemson University
• BS in Biology, 2012, Furman University

• Caesar, L.K., Montaser, R., Keller, N.P., Kelleher, N.L. “Metabolomics and Genomics in natural products research: complementary tools for targeting new chemical entities” Nat. Prod. Rep. 2021. 38(11): 2041-2065.
• Caesar, L.K., Robey, M.T., Swyers, M., Islam, M.N., Ye, R., Vagadia, P., Schiltz G.E., Thomas, T.M., Wu, C.C., Kelleher, N.L., Keller, N.P., Bok. J.W. “Heterologous expression of the unusual terreazepine biosynthetic gene cluster reveals a promising approach for identifying new chemical scaffolds” mBio. 2020. 11(4).
• Caesar, L.K., Nogo, S., Naphen, C.N., Cech, N.B. “Simplify: A Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics Approach to Identify Additives and Synergists from Complex Mixtures” Anal. Chem. 2019 91(17): 11297-11305.