Dr. Kenney [Merck Fellow] studies how microbes make natural products, a major source of new chemotherapy drug candidates. Dr. Kenney is identifying the chemical reactions used by microbes in nature to synthesize compounds that have the potential to act as chemotherapeutic drugs. Once the biological synthesis of these compounds is understood, this information can be used to identify, investigate, and ultimately re-engineer new families of natural products that can be evaluated for their potential as novel drugs.