IG Workshop: Microbial Metagenomics
| Date/Time: | Tuesday, 14 Apr 2009 at 4:10 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | 1414 Molecular Biology |
| Cost: | free |
| Phone: | 515-294-7697 |
| Channel: | College of Engineering |
| Categories: | Lectures |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Phil Hugenholtz received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, in 1994. His thesis work, conducted firstly with Ian MacRae and then with John Fuerst, involved characterizing the microbial communities growing on cooling coils in air handling systems. He then pursued postdoctoral work with Norman Pace in the Department of Biology at Indiana University and later in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. In the Pace lab, he characterized the bacterial community of Obsidian Pool, a hot spring in Yellowstone Park, using culture-independent methods. He co-discovered 12 candidate phyla, many of which have subsequently been verified in numerous other habitats and represent major lines of descent in the bacterial domain. In 1998 he returned to the Department of Microbiology at the University of Queensland to study the microbial ecology of activated sludges with Linda Blackall. Here he continued his interests in novel microbial diversity by characterizing candidate phylum TM7 with graduate student Gene Tyson, and learned how truly marvelous sludges in bioreactors are as model microbial communities. In 2001, he joined the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics group in the Mathematics Department at UQ and learned to interact with mathematicians and programmers. Here he developed a chimera detection program called Bellerophon with Thomas Huber. In 2002 he ventured back to the U.S., lured by the promise of applying genomic methods to microbial ecosystems in the group of Jill Banfield at UC Berkeley. And indeed, the promise was fulfilled by the publication of the first metagenomic study of a simple acid mine drainage biofilm community. Buoyed by this success, he joined the JGI in May 2004 to lead the Microbial Ecology Program. His group is developing methods for analyzing metagenomic datasets and applying them to a number of interesting communities, including enhanced biological phosphorus-removing and other sludges, termite hindguts, and Lake Vostok accretion ice.