Jonathan Eisen

Blogger, Parent, Scientist

Jonathan A. Eisen, Ph.D., is a Professor at U. C. Davis. His lab is in the UC Davis Genome Center and he hold appointments in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine and the Department of Evolution and Ecology in the College of Biological Sciences. In addition he holds an Adjunct appointment at the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institutein Walnut Creek, CA. His research focuses on the mechanisms underlying the origin of novelty (how new processes and functions originate). Most of his work involves the use of high-throughput DNA sequencing methods to characterize microbes and then the use and development of computational methods to analyze this type of data. In particular, his computational work has focused on integrating evolutionary analysis with genome analysis—so-called phylogenomics. Previously, he applied this phylogenomic approach to cultured organisms, such as those from extreme environments and those with key properties as they relate to evolution or global climate cycles. Currently he is using sequencing and phylogenomic methods mostly to study microbes directly in their natural habitats (i.e., without culturing). In particular he focuses on how communities of microbes interact with each other or with plant and animal hosts to create new functions. Dr. Eisen has also coordinated one of the largest microbial genome sequencing projects to date—the “Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea” being done at the Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute. In addition to his research, Dr. Eisen is also a vocal advocate for “open science” especially "open access" to scientific publications and is the Academic Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Biology. He is also an active and award-winning blogger/microblogger (e.g., http://phylogenomics.blogspot.com http://twitter.com/phylogenomics). Prior to moving to UC Davis he was on the faculty of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Maryland and held an Adjunct Appointment in the Department of Biology at the Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Ph.D. in 1998 in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, where he worked on the evolution of DNA repair processes in the lab of Philip C. Hanawalt. He earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from Harvard College in 1990.

Bioinformatics, Evolutionary Biology, genomics, Microbiology, open access

Making jam; identifying birds;