Robert T. Clubb is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), with appointments in biochemistry, molecular biology, and the UCLA-DOE Institute. A faculty member in Biology, he joined UCLA in 1996 as an assistant professor and progressed to full professor. Clubb earned a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan under Professor Gerhard Wagner. He completed postdoctoral training from 1993 to 1996 at the National Institutes of Health with Drs. G. Marius Clore and Angela M. Gronenborn. As principal investigator of the UCLA-DOE Laboratory in Structural Biology and Genetics and a member of the Molecular Biology Institute, he directs the Clubb Lab, which employs structural biology techniques including cryo-EM, NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography, combined with biophysical, cellular, and omics approaches.

Clubb's research focuses on the molecular mechanisms driving Gram-positive bacterial pathogenesis. His lab elucidates how pathogens assemble pili and surface structures for host tissue adherence, biofilm formation, and immune evasion; how they scavenge heme-iron from human hemoglobin to support virulence; and the function of cellulosomes in degrading plant polysaccharides, informing bioenergy, biotechnology, and microbiome studies. Notable publications include "Structure of sortase, the transpeptidase that anchors proteins to the cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2001), "Transient Weak Protein-Protein Complexes Transfer Heme Across the Cell Wall of Staphylococcus aureus" (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011), "Sortase-assembled pili in Corynebacterium diphtheriae are built using a latch mechanism" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021), "The Shr receptor from Streptococcus pyogenes uses a 'cap and release' mechanism to acquire heme-iron from human hemoglobin" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023), and "Molecular basis of hemoglobin capture by Corynebacterium diphtheriae" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025). With over 6,000 citations across 174 publications, his work advances understanding of bacterial virulence and inspires anti-infective therapeutics. Clubb received the 2014 Distinguished Graduate Lecturer award from the University of Michigan, the 1995 National Institutes of Health Research Fellowship, and the 1993 Leukemia Society of America Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

Professional Email: rclubb@mbi.ucla.edu