Mark Achtman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mark Achtman FRS
Mark Achtman in 2015, portrait via the Royal Society
Alma mater	McGill University (BSc) University of Manitoba (MSc) University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Children	Ariel Achtman, Jane Achtman
Awards	FRS (2015)
Scientific career
Fields	Microbial population genetics
Institutions	University of Warwick Warwick Medical School University College Cork Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology
Thesis	A Genetic Study of the F-Factor (1969)
Doctoral advisor	Alvin J. Clark
Other academic advisors	Thomas Trautner

Mark Achtman is a respected scientist who studies bacteria. He is a Professor of Bacterial Population Genetics at Warwick Medical School, which is part of the University of Warwick in the UK. He is now an emeritus professor, meaning he has retired but still holds his title.

Mark Achtman's Education Journey

Mark Achtman studied at several universities. He learned a lot about tiny living things like bacteria.

Early University Studies

• He started his university studies at McGill University in Canada.
• In 1963, he earned his first degree, a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.).
• His main subjects were Bacteriology and Immunology.

Advanced Degrees and Research

• After McGill, he went to the University of Manitoba.
• There, he earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in 1965.
• His research focused on how certain viruses, called adenoviruses, cause red blood cells to clump together. This process is called hemagglutination.
• He then moved to the University of California, Berkeley for his PhD.
• In 1969, he completed his PhD. His research was about the bacterial fertility factor, which helps bacteria share genetic material.

Understanding Bacteria: Mark Achtman's Research

Professor Achtman's work focuses on the genetics of bacteria. He studies how different types of bacteria are related and how they change over time. This field is called population genetics.

Studying Harmful Bacteria

• He is very interested in bacteria that can cause diseases. These are known as pathogenic bacteria.
• Some of the bacteria he has studied include:
  • Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera.
  • Salmonella, a common cause of food poisoning.
  • Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes plague.
  • Neisseria meningitidis, which can cause meningitis.
  • Escherichia coli (E. coli), a common gut bacterium, some types of which can cause illness.
  • Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium found in the stomach that can cause ulcers.
  • Bordetella, which includes bacteria that cause whooping cough.

Developing New Research Methods

• Mark Achtman helped create a method called multilocus sequence typing.
• This method helps scientists identify different strains of bacteria. It's like giving bacteria a unique genetic fingerprint.
• His research has received funding from important organizations. These include the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Awards and Special Recognition

Professor Achtman has received important awards for his scientific work.

Becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society

• In 2015, Mark Achtman was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).
• The Royal Society is a very old and respected scientific organization in the UK.
• Being a Fellow means he is recognized as one of the world's leading scientists.

Why He Was Honored

• The Royal Society recognized him for several key contributions:
  • He helped start the field of bacterial population genetics. This means studying how groups of bacteria change over generations.
  • He did important studies on bacteria that caused epidemics of meningococcal disease in Africa.
  • He also studied Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that lives in the human gut.
  • His research showed that Helicobacter pylori has been with humans for a very long time.
  • He found that studying the genetics of this bacterium can help trace ancient human migrations. This means seeing how people moved around the world long ago.
  • He also did clever genetic studies on Yersinia pestis. This helped understand how plague pandemics started and spread throughout history.