Go back to Ochman Lab Personnel.

HOWARD OCHMAN, Principal Investigator

Regents' Professor,

Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Joint Regents' Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

My research attempts to elucidate the factors that influence the generation and maintenance of variation in bacterial genomes.

Go to full statement of Research interests.
Go to Department of Biochemistry profile.
Go to Contact Information.

Academic History

Postdoctoral, University of California, Berkeley 1984-1987
Ph.D., University of Rochester 1984
M.S., University of Rochester 1979
B.A., Vassar College 1975

Professional History

Professor, Depts. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona 1998-present
Assistant Professor to Full Professor, Department of Biology, University of Rochester 1992-1998
Research Assistant, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine 1987-1991

Awards and Honors

University of Arizona Regents' Professor, elected 2008
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2006
Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, 2001
National Institutes of Health, Research Career Development Award
Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, Center Award for New Faculty, Washington University

Current Research Support

National Institutes of Health, R01GM-74738 "Elucidating the Origins and Functions of Unknown Genes" (Howard Ochman, PI)

National Institutes of Health, R01GM-56120   "Genome Erosion in Infectious Microorganisms"-funded through 2007 (Howard Ochman, PI)

National Institutes of Health, R01DK-066288   "Comparative Community Genomics of Gut Microbiota"-funded through 2007 (Collaborator; Pilar Francino, PI)

Scientific Activities

Editorial Board, Genome Research, 2005-2007
Editorial Board, Environmental Microbiology, 2005-2007
Associate Editor, Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2005-2007

Dissertations Directed

M. Pilar Francino (Ph.D. 1999)
Ulfar Bergthorsson (Ph.D. 1997)

Selected Publications (last three years)

Marri, P.R., L.K. Harris, K. Houmiel, S.C. Slater, and H. Ochman (2008) The effect of chromosome geometry on genetic diversity. Genetics. 179:511-516.     

van Passel, M.W., P.R. Marri, and H. Ochman (2008) The emergence and fate of horizontally acquired genes in Escherichia coli. PLoS Comput. Biol. 4:e1000059.     

van Passel, M.W. and H. Ochman (2007) Selection on the genic location of disruptive elements. Trends in Genetics. 23:601-4.     

Liu, R. and H. Ochman (2007) Origins of flagellar gene operons and secondary flagellar systems. J. Bacteriol. 189:7098-104.     

Liu R. and H. Ochman (2007) Stepwise formation of the bacterial flagellar system. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A In press.

H. Ochman (2007) Single-cell genomics. Environ. Microbiol. 9:7.   

Ochman, H., R. Liu and E.P.C. Rocha (2007) Erosion of interaction networks in reduced and degraded genomes. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 308B:97-103.   

Narra, H.P., Ochman, H. (2006) Of what use is sex to bacteria? Curr. Biol. 16:R705-R710.   

Wirth, T., D. Falush, R. Lan, F. Colles, P. Mensa, L.H. Wieler, H. Karch, P.R. Reeves, M.C. Maiden, H. Ochman, M. Achtman. (2006) Sex and virulence in Escherichia coli: an evolutionary perspective. Mol. Microbiol. 60:1136-1151.   

Ochman, H., L.M. Davalos (2006) The nature and dynamics of bacterial genomes. Science 311:1730-3.   

Go to full list of Publications.