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Curriculum vitae

CONTACT

Heather Maughan Resume

Professional Experience

  • July 2012 to present:  Freelance Science Writer, Editor, and Microbiology Consultant
  • Aug 2012 to present: Research Scholar, Ronin Institute
  • June 2017 to present: Member, Wholon
  • Feb 2011 to Feb 2015: Content Reviewer for American Journal Experts
  • Jan 2013 to Dec 2014: co-creator of Life in Our Phage World book
  • Jan 2013 to Apr 2013: Instructor for Advanced Molecular Biology, Wilfrid Laurier University
  • Jan 2009 to June 2012: Postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David S. Guttman, Dept. Cell & Systems Biology, U. of Toronto
  • June 2006 to Dec 2008: Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Rosemary J. Redfield, Dept of Zoology, U. of British Columbia

Education

  • May 2006: Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (Minor: Genetics), University of Arizona
  • Aug 1999: B.S. in Biology , Utah State University

Continuing Education

  • 2012: The Freelance Writing Business, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies
  • 2008: Computational Phyloinformatics course, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center
  • 2007: Linear Models in R workshop
  • 2006: Grants 101:Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop

Expertise 

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Genetics & Genomics, Metagenomics, Microbiology

Scientific publications:

Life in Our Phage World: A centennial field guide to the Earth’s most diverse inhabitants.  
Created by Forest Rohwer, Merry Youle, Heather Maughan, Nao Hisakawa, Leah Pantea, and Benjamin Darby. PDFs are freely available or a stunningly beautiful print copy can be purchased from Amazon. 

Published articles, news clips, and technical documents:

Publications in peer-reviewed journals (see Google Scholar page):

  1. Zhong, Z.-P., J.Z. Rapp, J.M. Wainaina, N.E. Solonenko, H. Maughan, S.D. Carpenter, Z.S. Cooper, H.B. Jang, B. Bolduc, J.W. Deming, and M.B. Sullivan. 2020. Viral ecogenomics of arctic cryopeg brine and sea ice. mSystems. 5:e00246-20. doi:10.1128/mSystems.00246-20.
  2. Boling, L., D.A. Cuevas, J.A. Grasis, H. Suh Kang, B. Knowles, K. Levi, H. Maughan, K. McNair, M.I. Rojas, S.E. Sanchez, C. Smurthwaite, and F.L. Rohwer. 2020. Dietary prophage inducers and antimicrobials: toward landscaping the human gut microbiome. Gut Microbes. 11:721-734. doi:10.1080/19490976.2019.1701353.
  3. Robertson, S.J., P. Lemire, H. Maughan, A. Goethel, W. Turpin, L. Bedrani, D.S. Guttman, K. Croitoru, S.E. Girardin, and D.J. Philpott. 2019. Comparison of co-housing and littermate methods for microbiota standardization in mouse models. Cell reports. 27:1910-1919. doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.04.023.
  4. Cobian Guemes, A.G., Y.W. Lim, R.A. Quinn, D.J. Conrad, S. Benler, H. Maughan, R. Edwards, T. Brettin, R.A. Cantu, D. Cuevas, R. Hamidi, P. Dorrestein, and F. Rohwer. 2019. Cystic Fibrosis Rapid Response: Translating Multi-omics Data into Clinically Relevant Information. mBio. 10:e00431-19. doi:10.1128/mBio.00431-19.
  5. Martinez, M.A., B.J. Woodcroft, J.C. Ignacio Espinoza, A.A. Zayed, C.M. Singleton, J.A. Boyd, Y.-F. Li, S. Purvine, H. Maughan, S.B. Hodgkins, D. Anderson, M. Sederholm, B. Temperton, B. Bolduc, IsoGenie Project Coordinators, S.R. Saleska, G.W. Tyson, and V.I. Rich. 2019. Discovery and ecogenomic context of a global Caldiserica-related phylum active in thawing permafrost, Candidatus Cryosericota phylum nov., Ca. Cryosericia class nov., Ca. Cryosericales ord. nov., Ca. Cryosericaceae fam. nov., comprising the four species Cryosericum septentrionale gen. nov. sp. nov., Ca. C. hinesii sp. nov., Ca. C. odellii sp. nov., Ca. C. terrychapinii sp. nov. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 42:54-66. doi: 10.1016/j.syapm.2018.12.003.
  6. Galtier, d’Auriac, I., R.A. Quinn, H. Maughan, L.-F. Nothias, M. Little, C.A. Kapono, A. Cobian, B.T. Reyes, K. Green, S.D. Quistad, M. Leray, J.E. Smith, P.C. Dorrestein, F. Rohwer, D.D. Deheyn, and A.C. Hartmann. 2018. Before platelets: the production of platelet-activating factor during growth and stress in a basal marine organism. Proc. R. Soc. B. 285: 20181307. doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1307.
  7. Lemire, P., S.J. Robertson, H. Maughan, I. Tattoli, C.J. Streutker, J.M. Platnich, D.A. Muruve, D.J. Philpott, and S.E. Girardin. 2017. The NLR protein NLRP6 does not impact gut microbiota composition. Cell Reports. 21:3653-3661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2017.12.026
  8. Haas, A.F., M.F.M Fairoz, L.W. Kelly, C.E. Nelson, E.A. Dinsdale, R.A Edwards, S. Giles, M. Hatay, N. Hisakawa, B. Knowles, Y.W. Lim, H. Maughan, O. Pantos, T.N.F. Roach, S.E. Sanchez, C.B. Silveira, S. Sandin, J.E. Smith, and F. Rohwer. 2016. Global microbialization of coral reefs. Nat. Microbiol. 1:16042. doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.42.
  9. Hisakawa, N., S.D. Quistad, E.R. Hester, D. Martynova, H. Maughan, E. Sala, M.V. Gavrilo, and F. Rohwer. 2015. Metagenomic and satellite analyses of red snow in the Russian Arctic. PeerJ 3:e1491; DOI 10.7717/peerj.1491.
  10. Murren, C.J., J.R. Auld, H. Callahan, C.K. Ghalambor, C.A. Handelsman, M.A. Heskel, J.G. Kingsolver, H.J. Maclean, J. Masel, H. Maughan, D.W. Pfennig, R.A. Relyea, S. Seiter, E. Snell-Rood, U.K. Steiner, and C.D. Schlichting. 2015. Constraints on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity: limits and costs of phenotype and plasticity. Heredity. doi:10.1038/hdy.2015.8.
  11. Fajardo-Cavazos, P., H. Maughan, and W.L. Nicholson. 2014. Evolution in the Bacillaceae. Microbiol Spectrum 2(5).
  12. Whiteson, K.L., V. Lazarevic, M. Tangomo-Bento, M. Girard, H. Maughan, D. Pittet, P. Francois, J. Schrenzel, and the GESNOMA study group. 2014. Noma affected children from Niger have distinct oral communities based on high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 8:e3240
  13. Belcheva, A., T. Irrazabal, S.J. Robertson, C. Streutker, H. Maughan, S. Rubino, E.H. Moriyama, J.K. Copeland, A. Surendra, S. Kumar, B. Green, K. Geddes, R.C. Pezo, W.W. Navarre, M. Milosevic, B.C. Wilson, S.E. Girardin, T.M. Wolever, W. Edelmann, D.S. Guttman, D.J. Philpott, and A. Martin. 2014. Gut microbial metabolism drives transformation of msh2-deficient colon epithelial cells. Cell. 158:288-99.
  14. Whiteson, K.L., B. Bailey, M. Bergkessel, D. Conrad, L. Delhaes, B. Felts, J.K. Harris, R. Hunter, Y.W. Lim, H. Maughan, R. Quinn, P. Salamon, J. Sullivan, B.D. Wagner, and P.B. Rainey. 2014. The upper respiratory tract as a microbial source for pulmonary infections in cystic fibrosis. Parallels from island biogeography. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 189:1309-15.
  15. Quinn, R.A., Y.W. Lim, H. Maughan, D. Conrad, F. Rohwer, and K.L. Whiteson. 2014. Biogeochemical forces shape the composition and physiology of polymicrobial communities in the cystic fibrosis lung. MBio. 5:e00956-13.
  16. Konya, T., B. Koster, H. Maughan, M. Escobar, M.B. Azad, D.S. Guttman, M.R. Sears, A.B. Becker, J.R. Brook, T.K. Takaro, A.L. Kozyrskyj, J.A Scott, and CHILD Study Investigators. 2014. Associations between bacterial communities of house dust and infant gut. Environ Res. 131:25-30.
  17. Lim, Y.W., J.S. Evangelista III, R. Schmieder, B. Bailey, M. Haynes, M. Furlan, H. Maughan, R. Edwards, F. Rohwer, and D. Conrad. 2014. Clinical insights from metagenomic analysis of sputum samples from patients with cystic fibrosis. J Clin Microbiol. 52:425-37.
  18. Whiteson, K.L., S. Meinardi, Y.W. Lim, R. Schmieder, H. Maughan, R. Quinn, D.R. Blake, D. Conrad, and F. Rohwer. 2014. Breath gas metabolites and bacterial metagenomes from cystic fibrosis airways indicate active pH neutral 2,3-butanedione fermentation. ISME J. 8:1247-58.
  19. Lim, Y.W., R. Schmieder, M. Haynes, M. Furlan, T.D. Matthews, K. Whiteson, S.J. Poole, C.S. Hayes, D.A. Low, H. Maughan, R. Edwards, D. Conrad, and F. Rohwer. 2013. Mechanistic model of Rothia mucilaginosa adaptation toward persistence in the CF lung, based on a genome reconstructed from metagenome data. PLoS ONE 8:e64285.
  20. Azad, M.B., T. Konya, H. Maughan, D.S. Guttman, C.J. Field, M.R. Sears, A.B. Becker, J.A. Scott, A.L. Kozyrskyj, and the CHILD study investigators. 2013. Infant gut microbiota and the hygiene hypothesis of allergic disease: impact of household pets and siblings on microbiota composition and diversity. Allergy, Asthma & Clinical Immunology. 9:15.
  21. Azad, M.B., T. Konya, H. Maughan, D.S. Guttman, C.J. Field, R.S. Chari, M.R. Sears, A.B. Becker, J.A. Scott, and A.L. Kozyrskyj. 2013. Gut microbiota of healthy Canadian infants: profiles by mode of delivery and infant diet at 4 months. Can Med Assoc J. 185:385-394.
  22. Maughan, H., P.W. Wang, J. Diaz-Caballero, P. Fung, Y. Gong, S.L. Donaldson, L. Yuan, S. Keshavjee, Y. Zhang, Y.C.W. Yau, V.J. Waters, D.E. Tullis, D.M. Hwang, and D.S. Guttman. 2012. Analysis of the Cystic Fibrosis lung microbiota via Serial Illumina Sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA hypervariable regions. PLoS ONE 7(10):e45791
  23. Maughan, H., K.S. Cunningham, P.W. Wang, Y. Zhang, M. Cypel, et al. 2012. Pulmonary bacterial communities in surgically resected noncystic fibrosis bronchiectasis lungs are similar to those in cystic fibrosis. Pulmonary Medicine, vol. 2012, doi:10.1155/2012/746358
  24. Lee, S.-J., J. Lee, K. K. Li, D. Holland, H. Maughan, D.S. Guttman, B. Yusta, and D.J. Drucker. 2012. Disruption of the Murine Glp2r Impairs Paneth Cell Function and Increases Susceptibility to Small Bowel Enteritis. Endocrinology 153:1141—1151.
  25. Maughan, H. and W.L. Nicholson. 2011. Increased fitness and alteration of metabolic pathways during Bacillus subtilis evolution in the laboratory. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 77:4105—4018.
  26. Maughan, H. and G. Van der Auwera. 2011. Bacillus taxonomy in the genomic era finds phenotypes essential though misleading. Infect. Genet. Evol. 11:789—797.
  27. Maughan, H., L.A. Wilson, and R.J. Redfield. 2010.  Bacterial DNA uptake sequences can accumulate by molecular drive alone.  Genetics 186: 613—627
  28. Maughan, H. and R. J. Redfield. 2009.  Tracing the evolution of competence in Haemophilus influenzae.  PLoS ONE 4: e5854.
  29. Maughan, H. and R. J. Redfield. 2009. Extensive variation in natural competence in Haemophilus influenzae.  Evolution 63: 1852—1866.
  30. Maughan, H., C. W. Birky, Jr., and W. L. Nicholson. 2009. Transcriptome divergence and the loss of plasticity in Bacillus subtilis after 6,000 generations of evolution under relaxed selection for sporulation.  J. Bacteriol. 191: 428—433.
  31. Callahan, H. S., H. Maughan, and U. K. Steiner. 2008. Phenotypic plasticity, costs of phenotypes, and costs of plasticity: Toward an integrative view.  Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1133: 44—66
  32. Maughan, H., J. Masel, C. W. Birky, Jr., and W.L. Nicholson. 2007. The roles of mutation accumulation and selection in loss of sporulation in experimental populations of Bacillus subtilis. Genetics 177: 1—12
  33. Masel, J. and H. Maughan. 2007. Mutations leading to the loss of sporulation ability in Bacillus subtilis are sufficiently frequent to favor genetic canalization. Genetics 175: 453-457
  34. Maughan, H. 2007. Rates of molecular evolution in bacteria are relatively constant despite spore dormancy.  Evolution 61: 280-288
  35. Masel., J., O. D. King, and H. Maughan.  2007. The loss of adaptive plasticity during long periods of environmental stasis. Am. Nat. 169: 38-46
  36. Maughan, H., V. Callicotte, A. Hancock, C.W. Birky, Jr,, W.L. Nicholson, and J. Masel. 2006. The population genetics of phenotypic deterioration in experimental populations of Bacillus subtilis. Evolution 60: 686-695
  37. Birky, C.W. Jr., C. Wolf, H. Maughan, L. Herbertson, and E. Henry. 2005. Speciation and selection without sex. Hydrobiologia. 546:1-17
  38. Maughan, H., B. Galeano, and W.L. Nicholson. 2004. Novel rpoB mutations conferring rifampicin resistance on Bacillus subtilis: global effects on growth, competence, sporulation, and germination.  J. Bacteriology 186:228-2486
  39. Maughan, H., and W.L. Nicholson. 2004. Stochastic processes influence stationary phase decisions in Bacillus subtilis. J. Bacteriology 186:2212-2214
  40. Cutter, A.D., B.A Payseur, T. Salcedo, A.M. Estes, J.M. Good, E. Wood, T. Hartl, H. Maughan, et al. 2003. Molecular correlates of genes exhibiting RNAi phenotypes in Caenorhabditis elegans.  Genome Research 13:2651-2657
  41. Nicholson, W.L., and H. Maughan. 2002.  The spectrum of spontaneous rifampicin resistance mutations in the rpoB gene of Bacillus subtilis 168 spores differs from vegetative cells and resembles that of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  J Bacteriology 184: 4936-4940.
  42. Maughan, H., C.W. Birky, Jr., W.L. Nicholson, W.D. Rosenzweig, and R.H. Vreeland.  2002. The paradox of the “ancient” bacterium which contains “modern” protein-coding genes.  Mol. Biol. Evol. 19: 1637-1639. 

Book Chapters

  1. Maughan, H. and K. Whiteson. 2020. Saliva as a Window into the Human Oral Microbiome and Metabolome. Pp 139-155 in: Salivary Bioscience, eds: Granger, D.A. and M.K. Taylor. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35784-9.
  2. Maughan, H., S. Sinha, L. Wilson, and R. J. Redfield. 2008. Competence, DNA Uptake and Transformation in Pasteurellaceae. In: Pasteurellaceae: Biology, Genomics and Molecular Aspects, eds: P. Kuhnert and H. Christensen. Caister Academic Press. (All authors contributed equally).

Fellowships, Grants and Awards

  • Canadian Institutes for Health Research Emerging Team Grant: Canadian Microbiome Initiative (2010-2015)
  • Cystic Fibrosis Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010-2012)
  • NIH-NRSA Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship (2006-2009)
  • Honorary Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, U. of British Columbia (2006-2008)
  • Michael A. Cusanovich Dissertation Fellowship, U. of Arizona (2005-2006)
  • Women in Science and Engineering Travel Grant, U. of Arizona (2005)
  • Ernst Mayr Award, Society for Systematic Biologists (2005)
  • National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (2004-2006)
  • Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research (2004 & 2005)
  • American Society for Microbiology Corporate Partner Travel Grant  (2003)
  • National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) Fellowship in Genomics (2002-2004)

Society Memberships

American Association for the Advancement of Science, Canadian Science Writers’ Association, American Society for Microbiology, International Society for Microbial Ecology

Volunteer Content Review for Science Journals

African Journal of Biotechnology; Applied and Environmental Microbiology; Archives of  Microbiology; Evolution; Infection, Genetics and Evolution; Journal of Bacteriology; Microbiology; Molecular Biology and Evolution; Molecular Ecology; National Science Foundation; PLoS ONE; US Army Research Office

References available upon request