About
Biographies
Research Interests and Accomplishments
Dr. Nelson is the Director of the Rockville, Maryland campus of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). She received her undergraduate education from the University of the West Indies, and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from Cornell University in 1997. Dr. Nelson has extensive experience in microbial ecology, genomics and metagenomics as well as in microbial physiology.
In 1999, at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), she led the genome sequencing of Thermotoga maritima MSB8, a bacterium isolated in water from a thermal vent off the coast of Italy, and the landmark publication provided insights into microbial evolution. She has also been involved in the analysis of the microbiota of the human stomach and gastrointestinal tract, and Dr. Nelson and her group were part of a national team of researchers who completed the first comprehensive metagenomic survey of the human gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Nelson is also Editor-in-Chief of Microbial Ecology and Advances in Microbial Ecology, and a member of the NRC Committee on Biodefense, the American Society for Microbiology Communications Committee, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
Currently she is a key investigator in the multi-center NIH Human Microbiome Project, which focuses on understanding the microbes that live in and on the human body and their contribution to human health and disease. She has authored or co-authored over 100 publications.
Select Publications
Nelson, K. E., Weinstock, G. M., et al.
A catalog of reference genomes from the human microbiome
Science. 2010 May 21; 328(5981): 994-9.[more]
Deboy, R. T., Mongodin, E. F., et al.
Insights into Plant Cell-wall Degradation from the Genome Sequence of the Soil Bacterium Cellvibrio japonicus
J Bacteriol. 2008 Jun 13; 190(15): 5455-63.[more]
Bek-Thomsen, M., Tettelin, H., et al.
Population diversity and dynamics of Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus oralis, and Streptococcus infantis in the upper respiratory tracts of adults, determined by a nonculture strategy
Infect Immun. 2008 May 01; 76(5): 1889-96.[more]
Wei G, Lu H, et al.
From phylogenetics to metagenomics: what can we learn about the gut microbiota of giant panda?
Microbial Ecology. 2007 Jan 01; 54(1): 194-202.[more]
Gill, S. R., Pop, M., et al.
Metagenomic analysis of the human distal gut microbiome
Science. 2006 Jun 02; 312(5778): 1355-9.[more]
Deboy, R. T., Mongodin, E. F., et al.
Chromosome Evolution in the Thermotogales: Large-Scale Inversions and Strain Diversification of CRISPR Sequences
J Bacteriol. 2006 Apr 01; 188(7): 2364-74.[more]
Bik, E. M., Eckburg, P. B., et al.
Molecular analysis of the bacterial microbiota in the human stomach
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Jan 04; 103(3): 732-7.[more]
Eckburg, P. B., Bik, E. M., et al.
Diversity of the Human Intestinal Microbial Flora
Science. 2005 Apr 14; 308: 1635-1638.[more]
Fouts, D. E., Mongodin, E. F., et al.
Major structural differences and novel potential virulence mechanisms from the genomes of multiple campylobacter species
PLoS Biol. 2005 Jan 01; 3(1): e15.[more]
Nelson, K. E., Fouts, D. E., et al.
Whole genome comparisons of serotype 4b and 1/2a strains of the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes reveal new insights into the core genome components of this species
Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 Apr 28; 32(8): 2386-95.[more]