His laboratory uses a combination of genomics and chemistry to identify and characterize small molecules from microbes, with an emphasis on the human microbiome. Fischbach received his PhD in chemistry from Harvard University, where he studied the role of iron acquisition in bacterial pathogenesis and the biosynthesis of antibiotics. Before joining UCSF, he spent two years as an independent fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, coordinating a collaborative effort based at the Broad Institute to develop genomics-based approaches to the discovery of small molecules from microbes. Fischbach is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Second Genome, Reckitt Bensicker, and Warp Drive Bio, and a consultant for Achaogen, Bayer CropScience, and Genentech.