Expertise:
Protein Chemistry, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Molecular Genetics, Cloning, Virology, Archaeal Viruses, Bacterial Culturing, Site-Directed Mutagenesis, Cell Biology, Microbial EcologyJamie Snyder is interested in viruses that infect organisms living in extreme environments.
Her research team focuses on viruses that infect archaeal host cells living in extremely high temperature and low pH environments. The viruses discovered from Archaea are unlike any other viruses on the planet. They have unique characteristics but also show some similarity to viruses that infect Bacteria and Eukarya, and therefore, making them appealing tools to study viral evolution.
Part of this work involves developing genetic systems to make mutations to determine phenotypes and potentially establish links between viruses infecting all domains of life.
Snyder is also a co-investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to establish a BioFoundry for Extreme and Exception Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria (ExFab). This work, a partnership with researchers at U.C. Santa Barbara and U.C. Riverside, involves a wider range of extremophiles, organisms capable of living in conditions that would kill other life-forms, such as intense cold, heat, pressure, dehydrations and other chemical and physical extremes.
ExFab will increase this team’s understanding of extremophiles through genotyping and phenotyping. The ultimate goal is to be able to utilize these product organisms to prototype new biotechnology or bioremediation, the process of using microorganisms to break down hazardous materials and substances into less toxic or nontoxic products. This project will provide students with equipment only available in industry or at national laboratories.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- National Science Foundation, “BioFoundry for Extreme and Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria (ExFAB),” $22,000,000, (2024-2030)
Selected Publications:
- With S.K. Chase, “ICTV virus taxonomy profile: Turriviridae 2024,” Journal of General Virology 105-7, 2024, doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.002000
- With R.D. Manuel, “The expanding diversity of viruses from extreme environments,” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25:3137, 2024, doi: 10.3390/ijms25063137
- With M.S. Overton, R.D. Manuel and C.M. Lawrence, “Viruses of the Turriviridae: an emerging model system for studying archaeal virus-host interactions,” Frontiers in Microbiology 14:1258997, 2023, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1258997
- With J.H. Munson-McGee and M.J. Young, “Archaeal viruses from high-temperature environments,” Genes 9:128, 2018, doi: 10.3390/genes9030128
- With N. Dellas, M. Dills, S.J. Nicolay, K.M. Kerchner, S.K. Brumfield, C.M. Lawrence and M.J. Young, “Structure-based mutagenesis of STIV B204 reveals essential residues in the virion-associated DNA packaging ATPase,” Journal of Virology 90:2729, 2016, doi: 10.1128/JVI.02435-15
- With B. Bolduc and M.J. Young, “40 years of archaeal virology: expanding viral diversity,” (Invited review article) Virology 479-480:369, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2015.03.031
- With N. Dellas, B. Bolduc and M.J. Young, “Archaeal viruses: diversity, replication and structure,” (invited review article) Annual Review of Virology 1:399, 2014, doi: 10.1146/annurev-virology-031413-085357
- “Not just a viral ‘magic trick’: implications for evolutionary relationships,” Yellowstone Science 22:38, 2014
- With R.Y. Samson, S.K. Brumfield, S.D. Bell and M.J. Young, “Functional interplay between a virus and the ESCRT machinery in Archaea,” PNAS 110:10783, 2013, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1301605110
- With M.J. Young, “Lytic viruses infecting organisms from the three domains of life,” Biochemical Society Transactions 41:309, 2013, doi: 10.1042/BST20120326
- With S.K. Brumfield, K.M Kerchner, T.E.F. Quax, D. Prangishvili and M.J. Young, “Insights into a novel viral lytic pathway operating in multiple archaeal virus-host systems,” Journal of Virology 87:2186, 2013, doi: 10.1128/jvi.02956-12
Education:
B.S., Zoology, University of Idaho
Ph.D., Microbiology, Montana State University