FEMS MICROBIOLOGY ECOLOGY

Jim Prosser - Short Resume

Professor Jim Prosser moved to the University of Aberdeen in 1978, following a BSc in Microbiology at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London and postgraduate and postdoctoral studies at the University of Liverpool. At Aberdeen his major research interests have been in the ecology of nitrifying bacteria. These interests focused initially on ecophysiology and more recently on the factors driving nitrifier diversity, the relationship between diversity and ecosystem function and the relative roles of ammonia oxidising bacteria and archaea. His studies encompass both terrestrial and aquatic environments and extend into use of molecular techniques to determine diversity-ecosystem function relationships in other bacterial and archaeal groups in rhizosphere soils. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Director of NCIMB Ltd and a Governor of the Macaulay Institute.

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS

Jeff Cole - Short Resume

Education.  MA in Chemistry and D Phil in Biochemistry at Oxford University (1961-1967), Fulbright Scholar and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow with Professor S C Rittenburg at the University of California, Los Angeles (1967-1969) investigating the biochemical basis of oxygen toxicity in microaerophilic bacteria. Subsequently Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor in Microbial Physiology at the University of Birmingham.

Research interests. Over 180 primary publications, more than 100 concerned with the regulation of anaerobic bacterial metabolism, especially the dissimilatory reduction of nitrate and nitrite to ammonia by enteric bacteria. Fifty PhD students have already gained, or will soon gain, PhD degrees from my laboratory. Current projects are concerned with the genetic and biochemical basis of Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome; adaptation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to oxygen-limited growth; how gonococci and enteric bacteria defend themselves against reactive nitrogen species; electron transfer pathways of the gonococcus; mechanism and regulation of nitrate reduction by sulphate-reducing bacteria; and physiological aspects of the production of difficult recombinant proteins in a bacterial host.

International responsibilities include serving as President of the European Federation of Biotechnology (2005), currently Vice-President of the EFB, Chairman of the Microbial Physiology Section of the European Federation of Biotechnology; Editor-in-Chief of FEMS Microbiology Letters since 2003.

Administrative responsibilities include Head of Academic Programmes for the School of Biosciences.

Recent publications include:

Constantinidou, C. C., Hobman, J. L., Patel, M. D., Penn, C. W., Cole, J. A. and Overton, T. W. (2006) A reassessment of the fumarate and nitrate reduction regulon and transcriptomic analysis of the effects of nitrate, nitrite, NarXL and NarQP as Escherichia coli adapts from aerobic to anaerobic growth.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 281: 4802-4808.

Overton, T., Whitehead, R., Li, Y., Snyder, L. A. S., Saunders, N. J., Smith, H. and Cole, J. A. (2006). Coordinated regulation of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae truncated denitrification pathway by the oxygen-sensitive repressor, NsrR, and nitrite-insensitive NarQ-NarP.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 281: 33115-33126.

Jepson, B. J. N., Mohan, S., Clarke, T. A., Gates, A. J., Cole, J. A., Butler, C. S., Butt, J. N., Hemmings, A. M. and Richardson, D. J. (2007) Spectrophotometric and structural analysis of the periplasmic nitrate reductase from Escherichia coli. Journal of Biological Chemistry. In press.

Desvaux, M., Cooper, L. M., Filenko, N. A., Scott-Tucker, A., Turner, S. M., Cole, J. A. and Henderson, I. R. (2006). The unusual extended signal peptide region of the type V secretion system is phylogenetically restricted.  FEMS Microbiology Letters 264: 22-30.

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FEMS IMMUNOLOGY & MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY

Patrik Bavoil - Short Resume  

Education

1972 Diplôme Universitaire d'Etudes Supérieures (DUES) en Chimie-Biologie, Université de Grenoble, France

1975-1976 Maîtrise et Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies (DEA) en Biochimie, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon, France
Advisor : Prof. George Michel
Thesis: Analyse structurelle du lipopolysaccharide de Escherichia coli CR34

1982 Ph.D. in Microbiology, Dept of Microbiology & Immunology, UC Berkeley
Advisor: Prof. Hiroshi Nikaido
Thesis: Proteins of the maltose transport system of Escherichia coli

1982-1984 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dept of Laboratory Medicine, UC San Francisco
Advisor: Prof. Julius Schachter
Project: Porin function of the chlamydial Major Outer Membrane Protein (MOMP)

1984-1987       Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dept of Medical Microbiology, Stanford University
Advisor: Prof. Stanley Falkow
Project: Molecular Pathogenesis of Chlamydia and entero-invasive E. coli

Current position

1987-1993 Assistant Professor, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, New York, USA

1994-1995 Invited Professor, Unité de Biologie des Intéractions Cellulaires, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France (sabbatical leave in the laboratory of Dr. Alice Dautry)

1993-1996 Associate Professor, Dept of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester, New York, USA

1996-1999 Senior Lecturer, Dept of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK

1999-2002 Reader in Molecular Microbiology, Dept of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK

2002-present   Associate Professor, Dept of Biomedical Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore, Dental School

2003-present   Director, Infectious Diseases & Immunology Track, Dept of Biomedical Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore, Dental School

2007-present   Director (interim), Electron Microscopy Facility, Dept of Biomedical Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore, Dental School

Recent publications

Tan, C., J.F. Spitznagel, R.-c. Hsia, and P.M. Bavoil. 2006. The Polymorphic Membrane Protein Gene Family of the Chlamydiaceae. In Chlamydia: Genomics, Pathogenesis and Implications for Control, P.M. Bavoil and P.B. Wyrick (eds.), Horizon Press, London, pp. 195-218.

Wilson, D.P., P. Timms, D.L.S. McElwain, & P.M. Bavoil.  2006. Type Three Secretion, contact-dependent model for the intracellular development of Chlamydia, Bull. Math. Biol. 68:1-18.

Crane, D.D., J.H. Carlson, P.M. Bavoil, R.-c. Hsia, C. Tan, C.-c. Kuo, and H.D. Caldwell.  2006. Chlamydia trachomatis polymorphic membrane protein D is a species common pan neutralizing antigen, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103:1894-1899.

Liu, Z., Rank, R., Kaltenboek, B., Magnino, S., Dean, D., Burall, L., Plaut, R., Read, T.D., Myers, G., and Bavoil, P.M. 2007. Genomic plasticity of the rrn-nqrF intergenic segment in the Chlamydiaceae, J. Bact. 189:2128-2132.

Burall, L., Liu, Z., Rank, R.G. and P.M. Bavoil. 2007. The conundrum of the invasin-like protein gene of the Chlamydiaceae. Micr. & Infect., 9: 873-880.

Peters, J., D. Wilson, G.S.A.. Myers, P. Timms and P.M. Bavoil.  2007. Type III secretion à la Chlamydia. Trends Microbiol. 15:241-251.

BOOK

Bavoil, P.M. 1982. Proteins involved in maltose transport in Escherichia coli. Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley.

Clark, V.L., & P.M. Bavoil (editors). 1995. Methods in Enzymology: Bacterial Pathogenesis, Part A, Volume 235, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego.

Clark, V.L., & P.M. Bavoil (editors). 1995. Methods in Enzymology: Bacterial Pathogenesis, Part B, Volume 236, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego.

Clark, V.L., & P.M. Bavoil (editors). 1997. Bacterial Pathogenesis - Selected Methods in Enzymology, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego.

Clark, V.L., & P.M. Bavoil (editors). 2002. Methods in Enzymology: Bacterial Pathogenesis, Part C, Volume 358, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego.

Bavoil, P.M. & P. Wyrick (editors). 2006. Chlamydia: Genomics and Pathogenesis, Horizon Press, Inc. Norwich, UK.

if you want to read more about Patrik bavoil please click here

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FEMS MICROBIOLOGY REVIEWS

Dieter Haas

Dieter Haas is a professor of microbiology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he teaches general microbiology and bacterial genetics. He obtained a Ph.D. in microbiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH-Z), Switzerland, in 1974, and carried out postdoctoral work in Melbourne, Australia, in Kansas City, USA, and in Paris, France. From 1978 to 1993, he was a group leader at the ETH-Z, before joining the University of Lausanne in 1993. He was the President of the Swiss Society for Microbiology from 2001 to 2003. His main research interests are the metabolic versatility and regulatory mechanisms of pseudomonads, with an emphasis on the role of small noncoding RNAs in the expression of secondary metabolites and extracellular enzymes.

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FEMS YEAST RESEARCH

Teun Boekhout - Short Resume

After graduation at Utrecht University Teun Boekhout spent some time in traditional mycology (especially mushrooms). Soon he was appointed as yeast researcher at the Yeast Division of CBS Fungal Diversity Centre, which is now located in Utrecht, The Netherlands. 

His research interest is to understand Fungal (including Yeasts) Biodiversity, including functional aspects, in an evolutionary framework, with emphasis on human pathogenic yeasts, in particular Cryptococcus neoformans and Malassezia species.

He is also interested in cell biological aspects of a particular organelle present in the hyphae of many basidiomycetes, namely the septal pore cap complex. In fungal ecology he initiated some research projects to study fungal diversity in relation to deforestation and reforestation of tropical lowland forests in Colombian Amazonia and he currently participates in studies on yeast biodiversity and their role in the fermentation of masau (Zyziphus mauritania) fruits in Zimbabwe.

Since 2006 he is Editor in Chief of FEMSYR, and from 2000-2005 he was adjunct Editor in Chief of this journal. He edited a number of books and a CD-ROM on yeast diversity, and he is on the editorial board of Mycological Research as well. Teun is coeditor of the 5th edition of The Yeasts, a Taxonomic Study (Eds C.P. Kurtzman, T. Boekhout & J.W. Fell) planned to be published in 2008. He lectures regularly on various aspects of yeast diversity and evolution in various graduate schools, both in The Netherlands and abroad (e.g. Portugal, Brazil, Indonesia). His work is presented at major international mycological and microbiological meetings. He is cofounder of the section Mycology of the Netherlands Society for Microbiology. In October 2007, he coorganizes an ESF-EMBO supported congress on Comparative Genomics of Small Eukaryotes in Spain.

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