About
Biographies
Research Interests and Accomplishments
Christopher D. (Chris) Town joined TIGR in 1999 as part of the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative to sequence and annotate the Arabidopsis genome. Since then he has worked on many EST projects, the International Medicago Genome Sequencing and Annotation projects and on Brassica Comparative Genomics. In the area of functional genomics, he has been supported by the Arabidopsis 2010 project to study the structure, function and expression of genes of unknown function and previously unannotated genes. He was involved in the development of the second generation ATH1 Affymetrix GeneChip, two NimbleGen whole genome tiling arrays, the first generation Affymetrix Medicago GeneChip and a first generation Brassica oligonucleotide microarray.
He has a B.A. degree in Physics from the University of Cambridge, UK and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of London, UK in Radiation Physics and Radiation Biology. He held post-doctoral positions at Stanford University, CA and the University of Edinburgh, UK followed by Staff Scientist positions at The Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK and the University of Madison, Wisconsin before taking a faculty position at Case Western Reserve University where he spent 20 years working first of Dictyostelium and then on Arabidopsis before coming to TIGR.
Select Publications
Bose ME, He J, et al.
Sequencing and Analysis of Globally Obtained Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus A and B Genomes.
PloS One. 2015 Dec 01; 10: e0120098.[more]
Giacomelli L, Nanni V, et al.
Identification and Characterization of the Defensin-like Gene Family of Grapevine.
Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI. 2012 Aug 01; 25: 1118-31.[more]
Hiremath, P. J., Farmer, A., et al.
Large-scale Transcriptome Analysis In Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), an Orphan Legume Crop of the Semi-arid Tropics of Asia and Africa
Plant Biotechnol J. 2011 May 25;[more]
Verdier, J., Kakar, K., et al.
Gene Expression Profiling of M. truncatula Transcription Factors Identifies Putative Regulators of Grain Legume Seed Filling
Plant Mol Biol. 2008 Jun 05; 67(6): 567-80.[more]
Moskal, W. A., Jr., Wu, H. C., et al.
Experimental Validation of Novel Genes Predicted In the Un-annotated Regions of the Arabidopsis Genome
BMC Genomics. 2007 Jan 17; 8(1): 18.[more]
Cheung, F., Haas, B. J., et al.
Sequencing Medicago truncatula Expressed Sequenced Tags Using 454 Life Sciences Technology
BMC Genomics. 2006 Oct 24; 7(1): 272.[more]
Town, C. D., Cheung, F., et al.
Comparative Genomics of Brassica oleracea and Arabidopsis thaliana Reveal Gene Loss, Fragmentation, and Dispersal After Polyploidy
Plant Cell. 2006 Apr 21; 18(6): 1348-59.[more]
Town, C. D.
Annotating the Genome of Medicago truncatula
Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2006 Jan 31; 9(2): 122-7.[more]
Young, N. D., Cannon, S. B., et al.
Sequencing the Genespaces of Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus
Plant Physiol. 2005 Apr 01; 137(4): 1174-81.[more]
Haas, B. J., Wortman, J. R., et al.
Complete Reannotation of the Arabidopsis Genome: Methods, Tools, Protocols and the Final Release
BMC Biol. 2005 Mar 22; 3(1): 7.[more]
Arabidopsis Genome Initiative
Analysis of the Genome Sequence of the Flowering Plant Arabidopsis thaliana
Nature. 2000 Dec 14; 408(6814): 796-815.[more]