Rafael Peña-Miller

Peña-Miller Lab is a systems biology research group at the Center for Genomic Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Led by Rafael Peña-Miller, the lab investigates how bacterial populations and communities survive and adapt to challenging, changing environments, including exposure to antibiotics and other stressors. Its research combines mathematical modeling, computer simulations, experimental evolution, and quantitative microbiology.

The group’s work explores how environmental structure shapes antibiotic-resistance fitness, how gene regulation creates differences among genetically identical cells, and how mobile genetic elements interact with bacteria and their surroundings. The lab shares its findings through scientific publications and preprints, and welcomes students and postdoctoral researchers with biomedical or quantitative backgrounds.

A distinctive part of its work is collaborative, open-source laboratory engineering. The team designs and builds research instruments and resources, including 3D-printed devices, microfluidic systems, automated culture-handling modifications, and equipment for tracking bacterial growth and fluorescence.