Christopher Howard House
Assistant Professor of Geosciences
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802

Professional Preparation

B. S. Honors, University of California, San Diego, 1995, Biochemistry & Cell Biology

Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 1999, Geology

Dissertation Title: 

Carbon Isotopic Fractionation by Diverse Extant and Fossil Prokaryotes and Microbial Diversity Revealed through Genomics

Appointments

1993-1994       Summer Fellow, NASA Specialized Center for Research and training in Exobiology   (NSCORT) in Exobiology

1996-1998          Teaching/Research Assistant, ESS, UCLA

1997-1997       Visiting Researcher, Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Regensburg, Germany

1998-1999       Research Assistant, IGPP Center for Astrobiology, UCLA

2000-present    Life Sciences Consortium faculty appointment, Penn State

2000-present    Assistant Professor of Geosciences, Penn State

Honors and Awards

2002                ISI Essential Science Indicators Geosciences Hot New Paper for the Month of November (based on rate of citations in the first year after publication)

2002                Selected for a microbiology position of Leg 201 of the Ocean Drilling Program

2000                "The Science Paper of the Month in Astrobiology" at NASA Headquarters

2000                Poster Award at NASA's First Semi-annual Astrobiology Science Conference

2000                Institute for Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Membership, Penn State

1999                Poster Award at International Society for the Study of Origin of Life Conference in La Jolla, CA

1996-1997      Graduate Fellow, UCLA Center for the study of Evolution and the Origin of Life

1994-1995      Adjunct Fellow, NSCORT in Exobiology

1994                UCSD Undergraduate Research Scholar Award

Research Interests

            Microbial Paleontology, Molecular Evolution and Geonomics, and Geomicrobiology

Selected publications

House, C.H. and S.L. Miller, 1996.  Hydrolysis of dihydrouridine and related compounds., 1996.  Biochemistry, 35:  p. 315-320.

Fitz-Gibbon, S.T. and House, C.H., 1999. Whole Genome-based Phylogenetic Analysis of Free-Living Microorganisms. Nucleic Acids Research, 27: 4218-4222.  (featured prominently in a Science perspectives article about Genomics and the Geosciences - Banfield and Marshall, 2000)

House, C. H., Schopf, J.W., McKeegan, K.D., Coath, C. D., Harrison, T. M., and Stetter, K. O., 2000.  Carbon isotopic composition of individual Precambrian microfossils.  Geology, 28:  707-710.  (Feartured in the Editors' Choice section of Science - Vol. 289)

Orphan, V.J., House, C.H., Hinrichs, K.U., McKeegan, K.D., and DeLong, E.F., 2001.  Coupled isotopic and phylogenetic characterization of single cells: direct evidence for a methane-consuming archaeal/bacterial consortium.  Science, 293: 484-487.  (Paper featured in the News Focus section of Science - Vol. 293 in an article by Carl Zimmer.  Also, featured as the ISI Essential Science Indicators Geosciences Hot New Paper for the Month of November 2002).

Orphan, V.J., House, C.H., Hinrichs, K.U., McKeegan, K.D., and DeLong, E.F., 2002.  Multiple archaeal groups mediate methane oxidation in anoxic cold seep sediments.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99:  7663-7668. 

House, C.H. and Fitz-Gibbon, S.T., 2002.  Using homolog groups to create a whole-genomic tree of free-living organisms:  an update. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 53: 539-547.

House, C.H., Schopf, J.W., and Stetter, K.O., 2003.  Carbon isotopic fractionation by Archeans and other thermophilic Prokaryotes. Organic Geochemistry, 34: 345-356.

House, C.H., Cragg, B., and Teske, A., Drilling Contamination Tests on ODP Leg 201 Using Chemical and Particulate Tracers. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, in press.

House, C.H., Runnegar, B., and Fitz-Gibbon, S.T.,  Geobiological analysis using whole genome-based tree building applied to the Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Giobiology, in press.

Orphan, V. J., Ussler III, W., Naehr, T., House,  C.H., Hinrichs, K. U. and Paull,  C. K.  Geological, Geochemical, and Microbiological Heterogeneity of the Seafloor Around Methane Vents in the Eel River Basin, offshore California.  Chemical Geology, submitted.

Synergistic Activities

Professor in charge of the Astrobiology undergraduate minor and the Astrobiology undergraduate program at Penn State.

Participant in the Astrobiology graduate seminars at Penn State and at UCLA.

Participant in the Astrobiology teacher's workshop at Penn State.

Organized and chaired a session called "Genomics meets Geochemistry" at the 2001 Goldschmidt conference on Geochemistry.

Participant in a science lecture series for medical doctors at the Tarzana - Encino Medical Center - promoting science education to the general public.

Graduate Advisor:  J. William Schopf (UCLA)

Graduate Students (Department of Geosciences unless otherwise specified) (total = 4):

Aubrey Zerkle (Ph.D., current), Vyllinniskii Cameron (Ph.D., current)

Jim Moran (Ph.D Co-advised, current), Jennifer Biddle (Ph.D Co-advised in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department., current)