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Nigel Mouncey

Nigel Mouncey

Nigel Mouncey, Director, DOE Joint Genome Institute

Dr. Mouncey joined the DOE Joint Genome Institute in 2017 as the fourth Director in its 24-year history. He is also the lead of the JGI Secondary Metabolites research program. After stints as a senior research scientist in molecular biology at Roche Vitamins, Inc. in New Jersey and DSM Nutritional Products in Switzerland, he joined Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis in 2008 and served as Bioengineering and Bioprocessing R&D Director and Leader from 2011 onward. There, Mouncey directed a 70-member R&D team that supported the growth of a highly successful natural product insecticide that has since generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue and significant societal benefit, through isolating, optimizing, and scaling-up of new production strains for commercial manufacturing by fermentation. He also built an integrated and highly effective bioprocessing team comprising high-throughput screening, metabolic engineering, engineering biology, systems biology, enzymology, protein expression, fermentation and analytical capabilities. His team also developed production strains and fermentation processes for other molecules such as a new fungicide, propionic acid and long-chain alcohols, as well as supporting the discovery of new crop traits.

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
  • 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

  • Krajewski V, Simic P, Mouncey NJ, Bringer S, Sahm H, Bott M (2010). Metabolic engineering of Gluconobacter oxydans for improved growth rate and growth yield on glucose by elimination of gluconate formation. Appl Environ Microbiol. 76(13):4369-76. doi: 10.1128/AEM.03022-09.
  • Zamboni N, Mouncey N, Hohmann HP, Sauer U (2003). Reducing maintenance metabolism by metabolic engineering of respiration improves riboflavin production by Bacillus subtilis. Metab Eng. 5(1):49-55.
  • Mouncey NJ, Gak E, Choudhary M, Oh J, Kaplan S (2000). Respiratory pathways of Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1(T): identification and characterization of genes encoding quinol oxidases. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 192(2):205-10.
  • Choudhary M, Mackenzie C, Mouncey NJ, Kaplan S (1999). RsGDB, the Rhodobacter sphaeroides Genome Database. Nucleic Acids Res. 27(1):61-2.
  • Mouncey NJ, Kaplan S (1998). Oxygen regulation of the ccoN gene encoding a component of the cbb3 oxidase in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1T: involvement of the FnrL protein. J Bacteriol. 180(8):2228-31.
  • 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(21):5612-8.
  • Mouncey NJ, Kaplan S (1998). Cascade regulation of dimethyl sulfoxide reductase (dor) gene expression in the facultative phototroph Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1T. J Bacteriol. 180(11):2924-30.