{{short description|Iranian American microbiologist, biochemist, educator}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}} '''Houra Merrikh''' is an Iranian-American microbiologist.<ref name="Memarian 2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jahandad-memarian/houra-merrikh-on-overcomi_b_10685932.html|title=Houra Merrikh on Overcoming Adversity and Becoming a Leading Scientist|last=Memarian|first=Jahandad|date=June 26, 2016|website=Huffington Post|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> She is a full professor at Vanderbilt University in the Department of Biochemistry. Her field of work is antibiotic resistance and bacterial evolvability. She also has 2 children Jasper and Jasmine Merrikh. <ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/anti-evolution-drug-vs-antibiotic-resistant-superbugs/575929/|title=A Bold New Strategy for Stopping the Rise of Superbugs|last=Yong|first=Ed|date=November 15, 2018|website=The Atlantic|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170815095135.htm|title=How head-on collisions of DNA protein machines stop replication: The collisions promote mutations that may help bacteria adapt to stress|last=|first=|date=August 15, 2017|website=ScienceDaily|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://everythingyou.com/podcast_page/episode13/|title=It's In the Genes w/ Houra Merrikh|last=|first=|date=|website=Everything You Know Is Wrong|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022061905/https://everythingyou.com/podcast_page/episode13/|archive-date=October 22, 2019|access-date=October 22, 2019|quote=Her research into the mutagenic nature of co-directional gene collisions were revolutionary in the field and won her the 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science.}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Merrikh was born in Iran and fled the country during the Iran-Iraq War, she was raised in Turkey.<ref name=":0" /> At age 16, she was sent to Texas to continue her education.<ref name=":0" /> She naturalized as a citizen of the United States in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/trumps-immigration-ban-is-already-harming-americas-scientistsand-its-science/514859/|title=Trump's Immigration Ban Is Already Harming American Science|last=Yong|first=Ed|date=January 29, 2017|website=The Atlantic|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> After attending community college in Texas, she enrolled at the University of Houston and later Boston University.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://genestogenomes.org/gsa-member-houra-merrikh-honored-with-vilcek-prize-for-creative-promise/|title=GSA member Houra Merrikh honored with Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise|last=|first=|date=March 3, 2016|website=Genes to Genomes|access-date=October 22, 2019|quote=Working with former GSA Board member Susan Lovett}}</ref>
She obtained a M.S. degree in 2006 and a Ph.D. in 2009 from Brandeis University, and worked with biologist Susan Lovett.<ref name="Memarian 2018" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/magazine/2017/winter/class-notes/GRD2000s.html|title=Graduate Students: 2000s|last=|first=|date=Winter 2016|website=Brandeis Magazine|publisher=Brandeis University|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> She was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2009 until 2011.<ref name="Memarian 2018" />
== Career == In 2009, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Health and Sciences at the University of Washington.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/bacteria-sacrifice-dna-repair-for-better-rna-20171122/|title=Bacteria Sacrifice DNA Repair for Better RNA|last=Cepelewicz|first=Jordana|website=Quanta Magazine|date=November 22, 2017 |access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> In 2015, she discovered a bacterial protein called Mutation Frequency Decline (Mfd) quickens the bacterial mutation process.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scienceandtechnologyresearchnews.com/merrikh-lab-working-to-defeat-drug-resistant-superbugs/|title=Merrikh Lab Working to Defeat Drug-Resistant Superbugs|last=Palisoc|first=Mhean|date=January 3, 2019|website=Science and Technology Research News|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> In January 2019, she was appointed full Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University.
Her work researches ways to slow the rate of bacterial mutations and to block their evolution.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.slate.fr/story/171126/bloquer-evolution-stopper-resistance-antibiotiques|title=Il y a peut-être une solution pour stopper la résistance aux antibiotiques|date=December 31, 2018|website=Slate.fr|language=fr|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.genengnews.com/news/anti-evolution-drugs-could-offer-new-strategy-against-antimicrobial-resistance-crisis/|title="Anti-Evolution Drugs" Could Offer New Strategy against Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis|date=November 19, 2018|website=GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> In 2017, she led the research group to help bacteria survive hostile environments and resist antibiotics, done through disrupting DNA replication in order to boost the rate of gene mutations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scienceandtechnologyresearchnews.com/dna-protein-machines-collide-head-stop-replication/|title=How DNA Protein Machines Collide Head on and Stop Replication|last=Rasmussen|first=Ray|date=August 15, 2017|website=Science and Technology Research News|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref>
She has discovered the first compound (ARM-1, which stands for Anti-Resistance Molecule-1) that inhibits the evolution of antimicrobial resistance through transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair across highly divergent bacterial pathogens. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38911259/.
== Honors and awards == Merrikh is one of the recipients of the 2013 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Awards,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1DP2GM110773-01|title=Project Information - NIH RePORTER - NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results|date=|website=projectreporter.nih.gov|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> for investigating the impact of replication-transcription conflicts on bacterial evolution. She received the Vilcek Foundation, 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vilcek.org/prizes/prize-recipients/2016/index.html|title=The Vilcek Foundation - The Vilcek Foundation - 2016 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science and Theatre|website=www.vilcek.org|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> and the University of Washington Innovation Award in 2015<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.washington.edu/news/blog/14-uw-researchers-win-2015-innovation-awards/|title=14 UW researchers win 2015 Innovation Awards|work=UW News|access-date=March 26, 2018}}</ref> for her research on the impact of replication-transcription conflicts on antibiotic resistance development. In both 2020 and 2021, she was named as one of the top ten young scientists in the United States national competitions, in the category of life sciences, by the Blavatnik Foundation.
== Publications == Her most cited publications after the award of her doctorate are, according to Google Scholar:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33&q=Houra+Merrikh&btnG=|title=User profiles for Houra Merrikh|last=|first=|date=|website=Google Scholar|access-date=December 21, 2019}}</ref> * {{Cite journal|last1=Merrikh|first1=Houra|last2=Machón|first2=Cristina|last3=Grainger|first3=William H.|last4=Grossman|first4=Alan D.|last5=Soultanas|first5=Panos|date=February 2011|title=Co-directional replication-transcription conflicts lead to replication restart|journal=Nature|publisher=Nature Publishing Group|volume=470|issue=7335|pages=554–557|doi=10.1038/nature09758|pmid=21350489|pmc=3059490|bibcode=2011Natur.470..554M}} (Cited 132 times) * {{Cite journal|last1=Merrikh|first1=Houra|last2=Zhang|first2=Yan|last3=Grossman|first3=Alan D.|last4=Wang|first4=Jue D.|date=2012|title=Replication–transcription conflicts in bacteria|journal=Nature Reviews Microbiology|publisher=Nature Publishing Group|volume=10|issue=7|pages=449–458|doi=10.1038/nrmicro2800|pmid=22669220|pmc=3467967}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Paul|first1=Sandip|last2=Million-Weaver|first2=Samuel|last3=Chattopadhyay|first3=Sujay|last4=Sokurenko|first4=Evgeni|last5=Merrikh|first5=Houra|date=2013|title=Accelerated gene evolution through replication–transcription conflicts|journal=Nature|publisher=Nature Publishing Group|volume=495|issue=7442|pages=512–5|doi=10.1038/nature11989|pmid=23538833|pmc=3807732|bibcode=2013Natur.495..512P}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Merrikh|first1=Houra|last2=Ferrazzoli|first2=Alexander E.|last3=Bougdour|first3=Alexandre|last4=Olivier-Mason|first4=Anique|last5=Lovett|first5=Susan T.|date=2009|title=A DNA damage response in Escherichia coli involving the alternative sigma factor, RpoS|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=106|issue=2|pages=611–616|doi=10.1073/pnas.0803665106|pmid=19124769|pmc=2626751|bibcode=2009PNAS..106..611M|doi-access=free}} * {{Cite journal|last1=Lang|first1=Kevin S.|last2=Hall|first2=Ashley N.|last3=Merrikh|first3=Christopher N.|last4=Ragheb|first4=Mark|last5=Tabakh|first5=Hannah|last6=Pollock|first6=Alex J.|last7=Woodward|first7=Joshua J.|last8=Dreifus|first8=Julia E.|last9=Merrikh|first9=Houra|date=August 2017|title=Replication-transcription conflicts generate R-loops that orchestrate bacterial stress survival and pathogenesis|journal=Cell|publisher=Cell Press|volume=170|issue=4|pages=787–799|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2017.07.044|pmid=28802046|pmc=5630229}}
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * [https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/merrikh-lab/ Merrikh Lab] at Vanderbilt University * https://blavatnikawards.org/honorees/national-finalists/ * [https://medschool.vanderbilt.edu/biochemistry/person/houra-merrikh/ Houra Merrikh profile] at the Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University * [https://microbiology.washington.edu/users/houra-merrikh Houra Merrikh's profile] at the Department of Microbiology, University of Washington * [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Merrikh%20H%5BAuthor%5D Merrikh, H. articles] from National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine * Podcast: [https://everythingyou.com/podcast_page/episode13/ It's in the Genes with Houra Merrikh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022061905/https://everythingyou.com/podcast_page/episode13/ |date=October 22, 2019 }} episode 13, from Everything You Know is Wrong * Video: [http://www.theybklyn.com/vilcek-houra Houra Merrikh 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science] (2016) from Vilcek Foundation {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrikh, Houra}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Iranian microbiologists Category:American microbiologists Category:Women microbiologists Category:Iranian expatriates in Turkey Category:Boston University alumni Category:University of Houston alumni Category:Brandeis University alumni Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:21st-century American biologists Category:Vanderbilt University faculty Category:University of Washington faculty Category:20th-century Iranian scientists Category:20th-century Iranian women scientists Category:21st-century Iranian scientists Category:21st-century Iranian women scientists Category:21st-century American women biologists