Mitchell F. Balish (Miami University) received his AB in Biology at Washington University, studying cell wall assembly in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. He then earned a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Emory University studying the subcellular localization of mammalian class I myosins. For his postdoctoral work at the University of Georgia under the guidance of Duncan C. Krause, he returned to microbiology, applying his cytoskeletal training toward understanding the assembly of the multiprotein structure within the attachment organelle of the bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae. He has continued this work as a Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where students in his laboratory have advanced understanding of mycoplasma cell structure, motility, biofilms, and host interactions. He serves on the editorial board of PLoS Pathogens. He has served as an officer for the International Organization for Mycoplasmology, the United States Organization for Mycoplasmology, and the American Society for Microbiology. He also participates as a faculty member and leader in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute SEA-PHAGES program, in which undergraduates all over the world isolate and characterize soil bacteriophages.