Christopher Howard House
Address:
Department of
Geosciences
208
Deike Building
University
Park, PA 16802
Email:
chouse@geosc.psu.edu
Education:
B. S. in Biochemistry and Cell
Biology,
University of California, San Diego
Ph.D. in Geology, University of California, Los
Angeles
Dissertation Title:
"Carbon
Isotopic Fractionation by Diverse Extant and Fossil Prokaryotes
and
Microbial Phylogenetic Diversity Revealed through Genomics"
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Microbial diversity and
cultivation, microbial paleontology, molecular evolution and genomics,
astrobiology, & geomicrobiology
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Summer and Adjunct fellow with S.L. Miller (1993 and 1994)
NASA Specialized Center for Reseaerch and training in
Exobiology (NSCORT)
Graduate Fellow with J. W. Schopf (1996-1997)
UCLA Center for the study of
Evolution and the Origin of Life (CSEOL)
Visiting Researcher with Karl O. Setter (1997)
Lehrstuhl fˆºr Mikrobiologie, Regensburg, Germany
Teaching/Research Assistant
(1996-1999)
Department of
Earth and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Assistant (1989-1999)
IGPP
Center for Astrobiology, University of California, Los Angeles
Assistant Professor of Geosciences (2000-2006)
Department of Geosciences, Penn State University
Associate Professor of Geosciences (2006-)
Department of Geosciences
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
DATA FILES FROM
GENOMIC PUBLICATIONS
2005 American Journal of
Science (AJS) paper
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Ferry, J.G. and House, C.H., The Step-Wise Evolution of Early Life Driven by
Energy Conservation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 23:
1286-1292.
Zerkle, A.L, House, C.H., Cox,
R.P., , and Canfield, D.E. Metal limitation of cyanobacterial N2
fixation and implications for the Precambrian nitrogen cycle. In press at
Geobiology.
Biddle, J.F. Lipp, J.S., Lever, M., Lloyd,
K., Sˆ½rensen, K., Anderson, R., Fredricks, H.F., Elvert, M., Kelly, T.J.,
Schrag, D.P., Sogin, M.L., Brenchley, J.E., Teske, A., House, C.H., Hinrichs. K., 2006. Novel heterotrophic
Archaea dominate sedimentary subsurface ecosystems off Peru. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, 103: 3846-3851. (Featured in Microbe, a magazine of the ASM).
Biddle, J.F., House, C.H., and Brenchley,
J.E., 2005. Microbial stratification in deeply buried marine sediment
reflects changes in sulfate/methane geochemistry. Geobiology, 3:
287-295.
Zerkle, A.L., House,
C.H., and Brantley, S., 2005 Genomic
Study of Biogeochemical Signatures for Microbial Metabolisms through
Time. American Journal of Science, 305 (’ÄúOct., Sept., Nov.’Äù Issue): 467-502.
Biddle, J.F., House,
C.H., and Brenchley, J.E., 2005.
Enrichment cultivation of microorganisms from sediment from the slope of the
Peru Trench (ODP Site 1230). Proceedings of
the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 201.
Moran, J. J., House,
C. H., Freeman,
K. H., and Ferry, J. G., 2005. Trace methane oxidation studied in several
Euryarchaeota under diverse conditions. Archaea, 1: 293-301.
D’ÄôHondt, S., and 34
others., 2004. Distributions of Microbial Activities in Deep Subseafloor
Sediments. Science, 306:
2216-2221. [Research Article]
Orphan, V. J., Ussler
III, W., Naehr, T., House, C.H., Hinrichs, K. U. and Paull, C. K., 2004.
Geological, Geochemical, and Microbiological Heterogeneity of the Seafloor
Around Methane Vents in the Eel River Basin, offshore California. Chemical
Geology, 205: 265-289.
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.
Geobiology, 1: 15-16.
House, C.H., Cragg, B., Teske, A., and the
Leg 201 Scientific Shipboard Party.
Drilling Contamination Tests on ODP Leg 201 Using Chemical and
Particulate Tracers. Proceedings of
the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports.
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. 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.
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., 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.
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)
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. (Paper featured in the Editors' Choice
section of Science - Vol. 289)
Fitz-Gibbon, S.T. and C.H.
House. Whole
Genome-based Phylogenetic Analysis of Free-Living Microorganisms. Nucleic
Acids Research,
1999. 27: p. 4218-4222. (Paper featured prominently in a Science
perspectives article about Genomics and the Geosciences - Banfield and
Marshall, 2000)
House,
C.H. and S.L.
Miller. Hydrolysis of dihydrouridine and related compounds. Biochemistry, 1996. 35: p.
315-320.
LECTURES AND SEMINARS
Penn
State University. Department of
Geosciences. Fall 2002. Title: The Carbon Isotopic Analysis of
Individual Modern or Fossil Cells, a Geochemical Approach to Studying
Biochemistry.
University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Department of Marine Sciences.
Fall 2002. Title: The
Carbon Isotopic Analysis of Individual Modern or Fossil Cells, a Geochemical
Approach to Studying Biochemistry.
Exploration
of Subsurface Pacific Microbial Ecosystems. 10th Meeting of the International Society for
the Study of the Origin of Life.
Oaxaca, Mexico. June 2002.
Ohio
State University. Department of
Geological Sciences Lunch Brownbag.
Spring 2002. Title: Of
microbes and men (people): Whole genome-based
phylogenetics applied to Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
Ohio
State University. Department of
Geological Sciences Colloquium Series.
Spring 2002. Title: The
Carbon Isotopic Analysis of Individual Modern or Fossil Cells, a Geochemical
Approach to Studying Biochemistry.
Single
cell isotope techniques and biogeochemistry. Presented at the ASM annual
meeting. Salt Lake City,
Utah. May 2002.
Of
microbes and men (people): Whole
genome-based phylogenetics applied to Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute. Fall 2001.
Novel
approaches for microbial geochemistry and for microbial phylogenetics. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute Colloquium Series. Fall
2001.
Methane-Consuming
Microbial Consortia Identified and Studied Using a Novel Combination of
Fluorescent in-situ Hybridization and Ion Microprobe d13C Analysis. Joint GSA/GSL Conference on Earth
System Processes. June 2001.
Using
homolog groups to create a whole-genome tree of free-living organisms: an update. The Eleventh Annual V. M.
Goldschmidt Conference. Hotsprings,
VA. May 2001.
Methane-Consuming
Microbial Consortia Identified and Studied Using a Novel Combination of
Fluorescent in-situ Hybridization and Ion Microprobe d13C Analysis. The NASA National Astrobiology
Institute Annual Meeting. Washington,
D.C. April 2001.
Novel
approaches for microbial phylogenetics and for microbial geochemistry. University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
Department of Biology Colloquium Series.
Spring 2001.
Culture-independent
study of carbon metabolism in microorganisms from the environment and from the
fossil record. State University of
New York at Stony Brook Department of Geosciences Colloquium Series. Spring 2001.
Studying
fossil and modern prokaryotes using an ion microprobe. The American Society of
Microbiology, Allegheny Branch Meeting.
State College, PA. October
2000
Examining
Microbial Diversity in the Precambrian.
University of Maryland & University of Rochester. Fall, 2000.
The Gordon Research
Conference on the Origin of Life. July, 2000 (Invited)
"From Geonomes to Microfossils: The Search for Ancient Biochemical
Diversity"
The Geological Society of
America Annual Meeting. October 1999
"Predicted Carbon Isotopic Fractionation of the Last Common Ancestor
of all Extant Life on Earth - Implications for Fossil Life Detection"
University of Chicago,
Carnegie Institute, & ASU departmental seminars. Fall 1999 (Invited)
"From Genomes to Microfossils: The Search for Ancient Biochemical Diversity"
International Society for
the Study of Origin of Life. July 1999
"Carbon Isotopic Analyses of Individual Microscopic Fossils: A Novel
Tool for Astrobiology"
The European Union of
Geosciences in Strasbourg, France. April 1999 (Invited)
"Carbon isotopic analyses of Precambrian microfossils: a tool for
constraining molecular evolution"
Joint Origins Colloquia
between UCLA and Caltech. February 1999 (Invited)
"Understanding the Precambrian oceans"
UCLA Astrobiology Student
Seminar. November 1998
"The Viking Biological Experiments on Mars"
The Eighth Annual V. M.
Goldschmidt Conference in Toulouse, France. August 1998
"Carbon isotope analyses of ancient microfossils: a new tool
for Precambrian paleobiology"
California
Paleontological Conference. April 1997
"Pseudofossils and microfossils - important differences"
Institute of Geophysics
and Planetary Physics Graduate Seminar. April 1997 (Invited)
"Was the last common ancestor of present life a hyperthermophile?"
The Neato Club Graduate
Seminar at Caltech. September 1996 (Invited)
"Pseudofossils and microfossils - important differences"
California
Paleontological Conference. April 1996
"The evolutionary history of dihydrouridine and its relevance to the last
common ancestor"
MEMBERSHIP IN
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Association for
the Advancement of Science
American Society for Microbiology
Explorer's Club
Geological Society of America
International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life
Paleontological Society