C. Graham Clark BSc PhD

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Background

I joined the Department in 1996, after obtaining a BSc (Hons) in Zoology from the University of Edinburgh, a PhD from the Rockefeller University in New York, and postdoctoral training in the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (Full CV)

Teaching

My main teaching responsibility is the module 'Molecular Biology and Recombinant DNA Techniques' and I lecture on gut protozoa, phylogenetics and molecular epidemiology as part of several other modules. I was for 10 years the Course Director for the MSc in Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases and a member of the course and examination committees for the MSc in Medical Parasitology. In August 2009 I took over as Taught Course Director for the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases.

Research

My main interests are in the genetic diversity and evolution of gut protozoan parasites, especially Entamoeba histolytica, the agent responsible for amoebic dysentery and amoebic liver abscesses, other species of Entamoeba, and Blastocystis, an organism of uncertain pathogenicity. I was involved in the E. histolytica genome project and presently work on comparative Entamoeba genomics, and I run the Entamoeba Homepage. The work on Blastocystis has focussed on sequencing its mitochondrial genome in an attempt to understand the function of the organelle in this anaerobic organism. Genome sequencing of Blastocystis and its relative Proteromonas is being undertaken. Genetic diversity, both within and between species, is being explored in both Entamoeba and Blastocystis.

Selected publications

• Loftus, B.; Anderson, I.; Davies, R.; Alsmark, U.C.; Samuelson, J.; Amedeo, P.; Roncaglia, P.; Berriman, M.; Hirt, R.P.; Mann, B.J.; Nozaki, T.; Suh, B.; Pop, M.; Duchene, M.; Ackers, J.; Tannich, E.; Leippe, M.; Hofer, M.; Bruchhaus, I.; Willhoeft, U.; Bhattacharya, A.; Chillingworth, T.; Churcher, C.; Hance, Z.; Harris, B.; Harris, D.; Jagels, K.; Moule, S.; Mungall, K.; Ormond, D.; Squares, R.; Whitehead, S.; Quail, M.A.; Rabbinowitsch, E.; Norbertczak, H.; Price, C.; Wang, Z.; Guillan, N.; Gilchrist, C.; Stroup, S.E.; Bhattacharya, S.; Lohia, A.; Foster, P.G.; Sicheritz-Ponten, T.; Weber, C.; Singh, U.; Mukherjee, C.; El-Sayed, N.M.; Petri, W.A.;Clark,C.G.; Embley, T.M.; Barrell, B.; Fraser, C.M.; Hall, N.; The genome of the protist parasite Entamoeba histolytica. Nature, 2005; 433(7028):865-8
• Stechmann, A.; Hamblin, K.; Perez-Brocal, V.; Gaston, D.; Richmond, G.S.; van der Giezen, M.; Clark, C.G.; Roger, A.J.; Organelles in Blastocystis that Blur the Distinction between Mitochondria and Hydrogenosomes. Curr Biol, 2008; 18(8):580-5
• Pérez-Brocal, V.; Clark, C.G.; Analysis of two genomes from the mitochondrion-like organelle of the intestinal parasite Blastocystis: Complete sequences, gene content and genome organization. Mol Biol Evol, 2008; 25(11):2475-82
• Tawari, B.; Ali, I.K.; Scott, C.; Quail, M.A.; Berriman, M.; Hall, N.; Clark, C.G.; Patterns of Evolution in the Unique tRNA Gene Arrays of the Genus Entamoeba. Mol Biol Evol, 2008; 25(1):187-198
• Ali, I.K.; Solaymani-Mohammadi, S.; Akhter, J.; Roy, S.; Gorrini, C.; Calderaro, A.; Parker, S.K.; Haque, R.; Petri, W.A.; Clark, C.G.; Tissue Invasion by Entamoeba histolytica: Evidence of Genetic Selection and/or DNA Reorganization Events in Organ Tropism. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2008; 2(4):e219
• Ali, I.K.; Mondal, U.; Roy, S.; Haque, R.; Petri, W.A.; Clark, C.G.; Evidence for a Link between Parasite Genotype and Outcome of Infection with Entamoeba histolytica. J Clin Microbiol, 2007; 45(2):285-9

Full publications listing (since 2001)