Nigel Mouncey

Dr. Mouncey joined the DOE Joint Genome Institute in March 2017 as the fourth Director in its 20-year history. Dr. Mouncey has a wealth of managerial experience from almost 20 years in the Industrial Biotechnology private sector, as well as research expertise in secondary metabolites and synthetic biology. Dr. Mouncey has a long-standing interest in microbial genetics that started with his education and carried forward into his roles as a senior research scientist at Roche Vitamins, Inc. in New Jersey and DSM Nutritional Products in Switzerland, and as Bioengineering and Bioprocessing R&D Director and Leader at Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis. During his time in industry, Dr. Mouncey directed R&D teams that focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel production organisms and fermentation processes for vitamins, insecticides, fungicides, platform chemicals, cosmetics and new crop traits. Dr. Mouncey has successfully built integrated and highly effective multi-disciplinary teams, and today, focuses on continuing to build and position JGI as a leading integrative genome science user facility. In addition to serving as JGI Director, Dr. Mouncey leads his own science group at JGI focused on secondary metabolites, and he is also the Deputy Leader of the National Microbiome Data Collaborative. From August 2021, Dr. Mouncey is serving as President-Elect of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Education

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of Sussex
• Postdoctoral training, Harvard Medical School and the University of Texas Medical School in Houston
• BSc (Honours) in Microbiology, The University of Glasgow

About the JGI Director

The Director provides scientific and managerial guidance for all aspects of the JGI. This includes responsibilities toward the JGI internal scientific programs, the affiliated DOE National Laboratories, the Community Science Program (CSP), and external collaborations. The Director ensures the highest quality operational effectiveness of production sequencing, provides health and safety oversight at the JGI, and plans for the development of future capabilities. Responsibilities include strategic planning and ensuring program excellence. The Director represents the JGI to its various funding agencies, acts as a principal advisor to the Department of Energy biology programs, and represents the Joint Genome Institute at national and international forums.

Awards and Honors

• President-Elect, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
• 2021 Charles Porter Award, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB)
• 2016 World Bio Markets Bio-based Business Person of the Year
• Publications Committee Chair (2016- ), Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
• Diversity Committee Member (2015-2016), Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
• 13 granted patents, 33 pending. Includes:
  • Enhancing spinosyn production with oxygen binding proteins. (2014) U.S. Patent Application US8741603
  • Fermentative vitamin C production. (2012) U.S. Patent Application US8318462
  • Fermentation process. (2008) U.S. Patent Application US7344855

Selected Publications

• Nayfach S et al. 2021. A genomic catalog of Earth’s microbiomes. Nat Biotechnol. 39:499-509
• Hurley A et al. 2021. Tiny Earth: A Big Idea for STEM Education and Antibiotic Discovery. mBio. 12:e03432-20
• Wood-Charlson EM et al. 2020. The National Microbiome Data Collaborative: enabling microbiome science. Nat Rev Microbiol. 18:313-314
• Palaniappan K et al. 2020. IMG-ABC v.5.0: an update to the IMG/Atlas of Biosynthetic Gene Clusters Knowledgebase. Nucleic Acids Res. 48: D422-D430
• Wang G et al. 2019. CRAGE enables rapid activation of biosynthetic gene clusters in undomesticated bacteria. Nat Microbiol. 4: 2498-2510
• Mouncey NJ et al. 2019. New voyages to explore the natural product galaxy. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 46:273-279
• Krajewski V et al. 2010. Metabolic engineering of Gluconobacter oxydans for improved growth rate and growth yield on glucose by elimination of gluconate formation. Appl Environ Microbiol. 76:4369-76.
• Mouncey NJ & Kaplan S. (1998). Redox-dependent gene regulation in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1(T): effects on dimethyl sulfoxide reductase (dor) gene expression. J Bacteriol. 180:5612-8.