Andrea Stierle

Dr. Andrea received her PhD in Organic Chemistry from Montana State University in 1988. She and her husband Don search for fungi growing in unusual environments as a source of new drug-like molecules that target diseases like cancer or stubborn bacterial infections. They have studied microbes from sponges living in the pristine waters of Bermuda and from yew trees from the temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest. In 1995, they began to explore the acidic, metal contaminated waters of the Berkeley Pit, a mine-waste lake in Butte, Montana. They discovered a rich microbiome and have mined these microbes for compounds with promising drug-like properties. They have found compounds that can block the metastatic spread of cancer cells, inflammation, and most recently, a new antibiotic that targets multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus.