Jonathan Eisen

Jonathan A. Eisen is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Davis, where his work integrates evolutionary biology, genomics, and microbiology. His laboratory is based in the UC Davis Genome Center, and he holds appointments in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the School of Medicine, as well as the Department of Evolution and Ecology in the College of Biological Sciences. Eisen is also affiliated with several graduate groups at UC Davis, including Microbiology, Population Biology, Integrative Genetics and Genomics, and Computer Science, and is a member of the Center for Population Biology and the Coastal Marine Sciences Institute. Prior to joining UC Davis, Eisen served on the faculty of The Institute for Genomic Research and held an adjunct appointment at Johns Hopkins University.

Eisen's research focuses on the phylogenomics of novelty, examining how new biological processes and functions originate in microbes. His work employs high-throughput DNA sequencing to characterize microbial communities, with an emphasis on integrating evolutionary analysis with genome analysis. His laboratory investigates mutualistic symbioses involving microbes, exploring the mechanisms by which these relationships originate and are maintained, as well as the communication between symbionts and their hosts. This research spans from single symbionts residing within host cells to the complex communities of microbial species in the human digestive tract. Eisen utilizes sequencing and phylogenomic methods to study microbes in their natural environments, including the microbiomes of plants, animals, and built environments.

Eisen has received recognition for his scientific contributions and commitment to open scholarship. He has been awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award in Bioinformatics and was named to Esquire Magazine's Best and Brightest. He also received the Walter J. Gores Award for Faculty Achievement in Excellence in Teaching, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology. Eisen was awarded the UC Davis ADVANCE Scholar Award for his efforts to improve gender equity in STEM through teaching, research, and service, as well as for encouraging leadership and outreach to underserved communities.

In addition to his research, Eisen is active in science communication. He served as the academic editor-in-chief of the open access journal PLOS Biology and is a prominent advocate for open access publishing, choosing to publish exclusively in open-access journals. His TEDMED talk, "Meet Your Microbiome," introduced the science of the human microbiome to a broad audience. Eisen's work and commentary have appeared in outlets such as the New York Times, NPR, Wired, and The Atlantic. He is also an award-winning science blogger on "The Tree of Life," where he writes about microbiology, genomics, evolution, and open science.