Johann Peter Gogarten, PhD

Peter_s Photo

Research Interests:
Early evolution of life, evolution of gene families, horizontal gene transfer, inteins, gene duplications

Email: gogarten (at) uconn.edu

Related Pages: cv as pdf, publications, Google Scholar

J. Peter Gogarten is a Board of Trustees distinguished professor of molecular and cell biology. His interests are the early evolution of life, horizontal gene transfer and selfish genetic elements. Research in his lab has been funded through the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the Israel-US Binational Science Foundation (BSF), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Exobiology program. He is best known for rooting the tree of life and for his early recognition of horizontal gene transfer as an important force in microbial evolution. Currently, a focus of his research is comparative genomics and horizontal gene transfer. He is also interested in the evolution of molecular parasites.

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Sophia Gosselin (graduate student)

Sophia's picture

Research Interests: Genome evolution in prokaryotes, phylogenies from genome wide measures

Email: Sophia.Gosselin (at) uconn.edu

 


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Yutian Feng (graduate student)

Yutian Feng

Research Interests: Rare genes in populations, analysis of metagenomes, Nanohaloarchaea

Email: Yutian.Feng (at) uconn.edu

Google Scholar


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Daniel Phillips (graduate student)

photo of Daniel

Research Interests: Inteins, Split Inteins, Evolution of Cyanobacteria

Email: daniel.s.phillips (at) uconn.edu



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Danielle Arsenault (graduate student)

Photo of Danielle Arsenault

Research Interests:
Homing endonucleases, inteins and introns in chloroplast genomes and in haloarchaea

Email: danielle.arsenault (at) uconn.edu


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Marlene Abouaassi (graduate student)

Marlene

Research Interests: Niche adapting genes,

Email: Marlene.Abouaassi (at) uconn.edu

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Alumni:

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Artemis "Dyanna" Louyakis, PhD (postdoctoral fellow)

Dyanna

Research Interests: Rare genes in Haloarchaea

Email: Artemis.Louyakis (at) uconn.edu

Google Scholar

Research Gate

 

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Shannon Soucy, PhD (graduate student)

Shannon

Research Interests: Evolution and life-cycle of homing endonucleases

Email: shannon.soucy_at_uconn.edu

Google Scholar

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Matthew Fullmer, PhD (graduate student)

Matt's Photo

Research Interests: Pan-genomes, speciation

Email: Matthew.Fullmer (at) uconn.edu

Current: University of Auckland

Google Scholar

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Luiz Thiberio Rangel, PhD (graduate student)

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Research Interests: Gene transfer, dissecting the phylogenetic information content of microbial genomes, T3SS

Thiberio visited the Gogarten Lab for a year during his PhD research at the University of Sao Paulo. 

Email:  lthiberiol at gmail.com

Current: MIT

Google Scholar

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Ray Guerrero (undergraduate student)

Guerrero Ray

Research Interests: Haloarchaeal pangenomes, genome assembly

Email: Ray.Guerrero (at) uconn.edu

 


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Ryan Englander (undergraduate student)

Ryan's photo

Research Interests: Pan-genome of bacteria,

Email: ryan.englander (at) uconn.edu

 

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Joshua Skydel (undergraduate student)

Josh's photo

Research Interests: Selfish Genes, cooperation between host, parasites, proteins, and protein domains

Email: joshua.skydel (at) uconn.edu

 

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Tim Harlow (graduate student)

Tim

Research Interests:
Evolution of sequence space

Email: timothy.harlow (at) uconn.edu

Publications on Pubmed

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Amanda Dick, PhD (graduate student)

Amanda Dick

Research Interests: Eukaryogenesis

Email: amanda.dick (at) uconn.edu

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Seila Omer, PhD (graduate student)

Seila's Photo

Research Interests: Gene Transfer Agents, evolution of isofunctional genes

Email: seila.omer (at) uconn.edu

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Erica Lasek-Nesselquist, PhD(Postdoc)

Erica's picture

Research Interests:
Ribosomal Tree of Life, Gene Transfer inferred from analyses of isofunctional genes

Email: elasekness (at) gmail.com

Current: Center for Bioinformatics at the Wadsworth Center, NYS Department of Health.

Google Scholar


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Kristen Swithers, PhD (graduate student)

Eirca

Research Interests:
Measuring gene flow in microbial communities using group I introns

Email: Kristen.Swithers (at) uconn.edu

Google Scholar

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Anna Green, PhD (undergraduate student)

Anna

Research Interests: Sequence adaptation to temperature

Email: anna.green (at) uconn.edu

Publications, Google Scholar

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Jeffery M O'Brien (undergraduate student)

Jeff's photo

Research Interests: Early evolution of Archaea and artifacts of phylogneetic reconstruction

Email: obrien.jeffreym (at) gmail.com

Link to Honors Thesis

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Matt Magda (undergraduate student)

Matt's picture

Research Interests: Repeated sequence motifs in bacterial genomes

Email: matthew.j.magda -at- uconn.edu

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David Williams, PhD (Postdoc)

David Williams

Research Interests:
Exploring the tree of life with Thermotogales and Halobacteriales

Email: david.williams(at)uconn.d-dub.org.uk

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 Cheryl Andam, Ph.D. (graduate student)

Cheryl

Research Interests: Gene transfer, amino acyl tRNA synthtases, homeoaleles

Email: cheryl.andam (at) uconn.edu

Google Scholar

Current: Faculty at the University of New Hampshire

 

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Greg Fournier, Ph.D.(Graduate Student and Postdoc)

Greg

Research Interests:
Early evolution of life; evolution in/of sequence space; evolution of the genetic code

Email: gregory.fournier (at) uconn.edu

Greg's CV

Current: Faculty at MIT

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 Maria Poptsova, Ph.D.(Postdoc)

Maria Poptsova

Research Interests:
Exploration of Novel Methods to Visualize Genome Evolution
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automated assembly of gene families

Email: maria.poptsova (at) uconn.edu

Maria's publications at Research Gate

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 Kenneth Knowles (undergraduate student)

 

Research Interests:
Evolution of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases

Email: kenneth.knowles (at) uconn.edu

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Kevin Franzman (undergraduate student)

 

Research Interests:
Molecular evolution and HGT of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases

Email: kevin.franzman (at) uconn.edu

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Dan Hagen (undergraduate student)

Email: dan.hagen (at) uconn.edu

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Oriana Perez (Undergraduate Student and Research Specialist)

Research Interests:
    Development of a genetic system for Thermotoga

Email: oriana.perez (at) uconn.edu

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Kathleen Price (graduate student)

Research Interests:
    Characterization of the hyperconserved protein in Prochlorococcus

Email: kathleen.price (at) uconn.edu

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Jonathan Dipippo (graduate student and joint member of Noll lab and Gogarten lab)

Research Interests:
Physiology and evolution of Thermotogales, Ecology and evolution of microbial communities

Email: jonathan.dipippo (at) uconn.edu

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Pascal Lapierre, Ph.D. (graduate student)

Current: Bioinformatics Scientist at UConn

Research Interests:
   Evolution of vacuolar and bacterial ATPases. Molecular Clock Theory applied to whole genomes.
Computational analysis of newly sequenced Frakia sp. genomes

Email: pascal.lapierre (at) uconn.edu

Link to Pascal's Google Scholar Page

Current: Wadsworth Center, Dept of Health, NY

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Alireza Ghodsi Senejani, Ph.D. (graduate student)

Current: Postdoctoral fellow at Yale

Research Interests:
   Intein structure, function and evolution

Current: Faculty at the University of New Haven

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Kai Shi (graduate student)

Research Interests:
    evolution and recombination of ribosomal RNA in bacteria

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Olga Zhaxybayeva, Ph.D. (graduate student and former Planetary Biology Intern)

Currently Assistant Professsor at West Viginia University

Research Interests:
   Comparative genomics, ancient gene duplications, ORFan genes, gene and genome mosaicism

Email: olgazh (at) dal.ca

Olga's Homepage at Dartmouth College; homepage at UConn

Related Pages: Electronic posters

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Holly Gardner (graduate student)

Research Interests:
    Role of horizontal gene transfer in bacterial community structure, specifically Thermotogales

Email: holly.gardner (at) uconn.edu

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Jinling Huang, Ph.D.(Postdoc)

Jinling is recipient of a National Research Council/NAI Associateship Award, and a member of the
NASA Astrobiology Institute at the MBL in Woods Hole.

Research Interests:
   Early evolution of eukaryotes, horizontal gene transfer, use of transfered genes as taxonomic character. l

Email: Jinling (at) carrot.mcb.uconn.edu

Current: Faculty at East Carolina University

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Catherine E. Igartua (Katie) (undergraduate student)

Research Interests:
    protein space and evolution

Current: Grad School University of Chicago

Email: kigartua (at) gmail.com

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Rima Desai (graduate student)

Research Interests:
    gene transfer of inulinase genes in Bacilli

Email: rima (at) carrot.mcb.uconn.edu

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Lina Pezzella (undergraduate student)

Research Interests:
    simulation of genome evolution

Email: lina.pezzella (at) uconn.edu

Current: Harvard Medical School

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Hasan Khalil (undergraduate student)

Research Interests:
    simulation of genome evolution

Email: mian.hasan.khalil_at_gmail.com

Current: Programmer at FactSet

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Lorraine Olendzenski, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
   Early Evolution of Eukaryotes; Horizontal Gene Transfer

Email: lolendzenski (at) stlawu.edu

Related Pages: Lorraines homepage

Current: Associate Professor at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
PostDoc: Education and Public Outreach Coordinator, NASA Astrobiology Institute at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA

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Greg Roussos (graduate student)

Research Interests:
   Intein structure, function and evolution

Email: gregory.roussos (at) huskymail.uconn.edu

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Andreas Bernauer (exchange student)

Research Interests: Compositional bias and substitution matrices

Email: Bernauer (at) informatik.uni-tuebingen.de

Currrent: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter Universität Tübingen

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Sushma Samala M.Sc. (graduate student)

Research Interests:
    evolution of ribosomal RNA in bacteria

Email: sushma.samala (at) huskymail.uconn.edu

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Daniel Schock-Kusch (undergraduate exchange student from FH Mannheim)

(PhD Universität Heidelberg, InnovationLab GmbH)

Email: daniel.schock-kusch (at) innovationlab.biz

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Reshma Shial, M.Sc. (graduate student and former undergraduate student)

Research Interests:
   Archaeal type ATPases in Deinococcaceae, culturing Thermus species

Email: rshial (at) hotmail.com

Currrent: UConn Medical School

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Jeremy Draghi, Ph.D. (undergraduate student, PhD from Yale)

Research Interests:
   Application of resistor and diode networks to study genome evolution, evolution of evolvability

Email: jeremydraghi (at) hotmail.com

Current: Postdoc with Joshua Plotkin at UPenn

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Luis Delaye, Ph.D. (NASA Planetary Biology Intern)

Research Interests:
 Origin of the genetic code, ancient gene duplications, evolution of aminoacyl tRNA synthetases

Email: infinito (at) SERVIDOR.UNAM.MX

Related Pages: pictures, homepage

Current: Profssor of Genetics, Cinvestav Unidad Irapuato, Mexico

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Prof. Dr. Günter Claus

Research Interests:
  Endo inulinases in strange bacilli

Email: guenterclaus (at) gmx.de

Related Pages: Pictures

Current: Professor at the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany

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Scot Magnotta, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
   V-ATPase subunit encoding gene families in Arabidopsis

Email: smagnotta (at) mail.hartford.edu

Related Pages: pictures, graduation party

Current position: Associate Professor at Montgomery College, Germantown, MD

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Parin Chaivisuthangkura, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
   Acid invertase isoforms in Arabidopsis

Email: parinc (at) yahoo.com

Related Pages: pictures, cv, hompage

Currently: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biology, Faculty of Science, Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand.

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Richard W. Mercier, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
   Isoforms of cell wall bound acid invertase

Email: rick (at) carrot.mcb.uconn.edu

Related Pages: cv

Currently: Research Professor at the University of Connecticut

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Lei Liu, Ph.D.

Former graduate student, and post doc with Dong-Guk Shin,
continued to collaborate with the Gogarten lab on the
detection of horizontal gene transfer events

Related Pages: homepage

Current position:
   Professor at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS

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Elena Hilario, Ph.D.

Research Interests:
   The V-ATPase in Giardia. Horizontal gene transfer, Inteins

Email: ehilario (at) HORTRESEARCH.CO.NZ

Related Pages: pictures, cv, selected slides from Elena's thesis defense

Currently: Staff Scientist at HortResearch, Auckland, New Zealand

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Gail Berardino-Lang, M.Sc., Ph.D. (undergraduate student, PhD from Colorado State University)

Research Interests:
   microbial communities in the soil
   horizontal gene transfer

Currently: Graduate Student at Colorado State University

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Kristen Dantscher (undergraduate student)

Research Interests:
   Culturing chytrids, V-ATPases in eukaryotic microbes

Email: kdantsch (at) hotmail.com

Related Pages: Pictures

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Ryan Murphey (undergraduate student, PhD from Harvard, JD from NYU)

Research Interests:
   Archaeal genes in Deinococcaceae

Email: ryan.murphey_at_ropesgray.com

Currently: Ropes & Gray's Intellectual Property Group

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Reema Gulati (undergraduate student)

Research Interests:
   Culturing protists, V-ATPases in putatively deep branching Eukaryotes

Email: reemareems (at) yahoo.com

Currently: Research Assistant at the Keck Foundation Biotechnology Resource Laboratory at Yale University

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Torsten Schadtle (graduate student)

Research Interests:
    Inteins in Thermoplasma acidophilum

Email:

Currently: Munich

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Maria B. Gogarten, Ph.D. (Postdoc)

Research Interests:
   Evolution and function of vacuolar type ATPases

Email: mgogarten_at_gmail.com

Currently: Writer

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Carmen Soileau, Ph.D. (Postdoc)

Research Interests:
    Isolation of cDNAs, characterization of invertase isoforms

Email: Lena.C.Soileau_at_aphis.usda.gov

Currently: USDA APHIS PHP specialist in invertebrate zoology for the plant pest permit unit

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Thomas Starke, Ph.D. (graduate student, PhD)

Research Interests:
   Evolution of ATPase and ATP synthases

Email:

Currently: Chairperson for the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Nashville State Technical Institute.

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Timothy Linkkila (graduate student, MSc)

Research Interests:
   Evolution of ATPase and ATP synthases

Email:

Currently: Patent Attorney, Vice President, Intellectual Property and Chief Patent Counsel, Mascoma Corporation

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