Robert Ernst | SAB Chair
TollereBio

Robert (Bob) K. Ernst, Ph.D. is the Dr. Paul and Mrs. Jean Corcoran Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at the University of Maryland -Baltimore and a Distinguished University Professor. He is also a co-founder of the biotechnology companies Pataigin and TollereBio. Dr. Ernst’s research explores how Gram-negative bacteria adapt to host immune defenses by modifying the lipid A component of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a key molecule recognized by the innate immune system. His laboratory has uncovered the molecular mechanisms driving these structural changes and their role in bacterial pathogenesis and immune modulation. Building on these discoveries, Dr. Ernst developed bacterial enzymatic combinatorial chemistry (BECC), a platform that harnesses bacterial biosynthetic enzymes to engineer libraries of lipid A molecules with distinct immune-stimulating properties. This approach enables the rational design of safe and potent vaccine adjuvants tailored to elicit specific immune responses. In addition to advancing vaccine research, BECC has been applied to rapidly identify bacterial pathogens directly from complex biological fluids using mass spectrometry, offering powerful diagnostic and immunological tools for infectious disease research.