With research applying chemical approaches to nucleic acid biology, Pete Dedon's group has developed systems-level analytical and informatic platforms for basic and translational research in epigenetics, epitranscriptomics, and genetic toxicology in infectious disease and cancer. His discoveries of phosphorothioate and 7-deazaG DNA modifications in microbes have led to clinical studies of the human gut microbiome. Pete's collaboration with Tom Begley has revealed stress-specific reprogramming of 40-50 different tRNA modifications that regulates codon-biased translation of stress response proteins. Pete and colleagues are leveraging these discoveries to develop new enzymatic tools for biotechnology, new methods for industrial microbiology and protein production, and novel antimicrobial agents and biological therapeutics.