Christopher J. Thibodeaux is a native of Louisiana, where he graduated valedictorian with bachelor's degrees in Biochemistry, Botany, and Chemistry from Louisiana State University. He then entered graduate school in the lab of Hung-wen Liu at the University of Texas, Austin, where his Ph.D. focused on elucidating the chemical and kinetic mechanisms of enzyme catalysis. Following graduation, he had postdoctoral stints in the labs of Taekjip Ha and Wilfred van der Donk at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he studied biomolecular single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and peptide natural product biosynthesis, respectively. In 2016, he began his independent career in the Chemistry Department at McGill University, where he is currently an assistant professor. His research is broadly aimed at combatting the problem of antimicrobial resistance by understanding the detailed molecular mechanisms of enzymes that synthesize structurally complex antimicrobial compounds, discovering novel antimicrobial compounds by genome mining, and by investigating the mechanisms used by bacteria to establish biofilms. In his spare time, he enjoys the outdoors, cooking and eating spicy food, large family gatherings, watching (American) football and baseball, and spending time with his wife and three daughters.
