Charles Opperman

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University

EDUCATION:
• BS Agronomy – Plant Breeding specialization, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
• PhD Nematology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

AFFILIATIONS:
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Phytopathological Society
• European Society of Nematologists
• International Society of Plant-Microbe Interactions
• Society of Nematologists

AWARDS AND HONORS:
• January, 2001 Researcher-in-Residence, The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe NM
• 1998-present Lawes Trust Senior Fellowship, Rothamsted Research Ltd, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom
• 1983-1985 RJ Reynolds Graduate Fellowship, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Charles Opperman is the Project Director for the Tobacco Genome Initiative, which aims to sequence tag greater than 90% of the genes in Nicotiana.

In addition, his group is completing a whole genome shotgun sequence of the nematode-parasitic bacterium, Pasteuria penetrans.

Dr Opperman is also the Project Director to sequence the genome of the plant parasitic nematode, Meloidogyne hapla (root-knot nematode).

Research in his laboratory focuses on several major areas. The main thrust of the program is aimed at understanding the cellular and genetic basis of parasitism. A key approach in all of these projects is using phylogenetic relationships to help determine gene function and evolution.

In addition, he is keenly interested in the differences between free-living and parasitic nematode species. For example, the root-knot nematode sequencing project will take advantage of genome co-linearity with Caenorhabditis elegans. Similar approaches have been utilized for the bacterial sequences and the solanaceous tobacco genes.

HOME PAGE
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/people/faculty/opperman/