Howard Ochman

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences

howard.ochman@austin.utexas.edu
Neural Molecular Science Building - NMS 4.110

We apply experimental, comparative and computational approaches to investigate the factors contributing to the evolution of bacterial genomes and microbial communities. Some of our current projects investigate:

The role of adaptive and non-adaptive processes in bacterial genome evolution
The causes and consequences of genome reduction in bacterial pathogens
The origins of new genes and functional complexity
The microbial community diversity residing in Great Ape hosts

Academic History

Ph.D., University of Rochester 1984
M.S., University of Rochester 1979
B.A., Vassar College 1975

Professional History

Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin 2021-
Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin 2013-2021
Professor, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University 2010-2013
Professor, Depts. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona 1998-2009
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
Postdoctoral, University of California, Berkeley 1984-1987

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, 1R01GM101209-01 "Dynamics of the Microbes Infecting the Guts of Great Apes" (Howard Ochman, PI)
National Science Foundation, 1831730 "Ordering the microbial world into natural genetic, ecological, and functional units" (Howard Ochman, 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

Alex H. Nishida (Ph.D. 2021)
Charles Traverse (Ph.D. 2018)
Andrew H. Moeller (Ph.D. 2015)
M. Pilar Francino (Ph.D. 1999)
Ulfar Bergthorsson (Ph.D. 1997)

Recent Publications (last three years)

Edwards O., G. Jander, H. Ochman, R. Schuurink, and K. B. Singh (2022) Insects co-opt host genes to overcome plant defences. Fac Rev. 11(10). doi: 10.12703/r-01-000007

Kirchberger P. C., Z. A. Martinez, and H. Ochman (2022) Organizing the Global Diversity of Microviruses. mBio 13(3):e0058822. doi: 10.1128/mbio.00588-22

Nishida A.H. and H. Ochman (2021) Captivity and the co-diversification of great ape microbiomes. Nat Commun. 12(1):5632. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25732-y.

Kirchberger P.C. , Z. A. Martinez, L. J. Luker, and H. Ochman (2021) Defensive hypervariable regions confer superinfection exclusion in microviruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 118(28) e2102786118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2102786118

Li Y., A. C. O'Donnell, and H. Ochman (2021) Discriminating arboviral species. J Gen Virol. 102(4). doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.001572

Bobay L. M., A. C. O'Donnell, and H. Ochman (2021) Recombination events are concentrated in the spike protein region of Betacoronaviruses. PLoS Genet. 16(12):e1009272. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009272.

Kirchberger P. C., M. Schmidt, and H. Ochman (2020) The Ingenuity of Bacterial Genomes. Annu Rev Microbiol. 74:815-834.. doi: 10.1146/annurev-micro-020518-115822

Kirchberger P. C. and H. Ochman (2020) Resurrection of a Global, Metagenomically Defined Gokushovirus. eLife 9:e51599 doi: 10.7554/eLife.51599