Rita R. Colwell

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Distinguished University Professor

3103 Biomolecular Sciences Building

(301) 405-9550

Education:

Ph.D., University of Washington (Oceanography)

Special Awards/Honors:

2006 National Medal of Science (given by President George W. Bush), the 2006 "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star," Japan Society for Promotion of Science, 2010 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, 2016 Malaysian Academy of Science Mahthir Science Award for Scientific Excellence in Work in the Tropical Regions, 2016 Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, Creativity Prize, Saudi Arabia, 2017 Vannevar Bush Award, National Science Board and National Science Foundation, 2017 International Prize for Biology, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan, 2017 Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur ("Knight of the Legion of Honor"), France, 2018 Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore) Water Prize. Dr. Colwell has served as President, American Society for Microbiology (ASM), President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), President, American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), President, American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS), and is Chair of the Research Board for the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative through 2020.

Biography:

Rita Colwell is a Distinguished University Professor with an appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

Colwell is one of the world’s leading researchers of cholera—a waterborne disease estimated by the World Health Organization to strike three to five million people annually, many of them young children. Her efforts to track and predict cholera outbreaks are multi-faceted, combining bioinformatics with the pioneering use of satellite imaging. She was one of the first scientists to employ remote sensing for disease prediction, as well as recognize the impact of climate change on the waterborne microbial world.

Go here to view Colwell's most recent academic publications.

Publications

2019

Al-Hebshi NNoor, Baraniya D, Chen T, Hill J, Puri S, Tellez M, Hassan NA, Colwell RR, Ismail A. 2019. Metagenome sequencing-based strain-level and functional characterization of supragingival microbiome associated with dental caries in children. Journal of Oral Microbiology. (118):1557986.

2018

Roy M, Arnaud J, Jasmin P, Hamner S, Hasan N, Colwell RR, Ford T. 2018. A Metagenomic Approach to Evaluating Surface Water Quality in Haiti. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 1542(10):2211.

Stamps BW, Leddy MB, Plumlee MH, Hasan NA, Colwell RR, Spear JR. 2018. Characterization of the Microbiome at the World’s Largest Potable Water Reuse Facility. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Neogi S, Rubin L, Alam M, Harder J, Yamasaki S, Colwell RR. 2018. Environmental and hydroclimatic factors influencing Vibrio populations in the estuarine zone of the Bengal delta. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. (10)

Carlson CJ, Getz WM, Kausrud KL, Cizauskas CA, Blackburn JK, Carrillo FABustos, Colwell RR, W. Easterday R, Ganz HH, Kamath PL et al.. 2018. Spores and soil from six sides: interdisciplinarity and the environmental biology of anthrax (Bacillus anthracis). Biological Reviews. (4):1813-1831.

Hourigan SK, Subramanian P, Hasan NA, Ta A, Klein E, Chettout N, Huddleston K, Deopujari V, Levy S, Baveja R et al.. 2018. Comparison of Infant Gut and Skin Microbiota, Resistome and Virulome Between Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Environments. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Sultana M, Nusrin S, Hasan NA, Sadique A, Ahmed KU, Islam A, Hossain A, Longini I, Nizam A, Huq A et al.. 2018. Biofilms Comprise a Component of the Annual Cycle of Vibrio cholerae in the Bay of Bengal Estuary. mBio. (2):e00483-18.

Akanda A, Aziz S, Jutla A, Huq A, Alam M, Ahsan G, Colwell RR. 2018. Satellites and Cell Phones Form a Cholera Early-Warning System. Eos. 99

Connelly S, Subramanian P, Hasan NA, Colwell RR, Kaleko M. 2018. Distinct consequences of amoxicillin and ertapenem exposure in the porcine gut microbiome. Anaerobe. 53:82-93.

Hossain M, Alam M, Khaleque A, Islam S, Sadique A, Khan N, Halim Z, Sarker M, El-Sayed NM, Huq A et al.. 2018. Virulence-Related Genes Identified from the Genome Sequence of the Non-O1/Non-O139 Vibrio cholerae Strain VcN1, Isolated from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Genome Announcements. (10)

Kaboré S, Cecchi P, Mosser T, Toubiana M, Traoré O, Ouattara AS, Traoré AS, Barro N, Colwell RR, Monfort P. 2018. Occurrence of Vibrio cholerae in water reservoirs of Burkina Faso. Research in Microbiology. 169(1):1-10.

Leddy MB, Plumlee MH, Kantor RS, Nelson KL, Miller SE, Kennedy LC, Stamps BW, Spear JR, Hasan NA, Colwell RR. 2018. High-Throughput DNA Sequencing To Profile Microbial Water Quality Of Potable Reuse.

2017

Ceccarelli D, Garriss G, Choi SY, Hasan NA, Stepanauskas R, Pop M, Huq A, Colwell RR. 2017. Characterization of Two Cryptic Plasmids Isolated in Haiti from Clinical Vibrio cholerae Non-O1/Non-O139. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Chen AJ, Hasan NA, Haley BJ, Taviani E, Tarnowski M, Brohawn K, Johnson CN, Colwell RR, Huq A. 2017. Characterization of Pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus from the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Nasr-Azadani F, Khan R, Rahimikollu J, Unnikrishnan A, Akanda A, Alam M, Huq A, Jutla A, Colwell RR. 2017. Hydroclimatic sustainability assessment of changing climate on cholera in the Ganges-Brahmaputra basin. Advances in Water Resources. 108:332-344.

Leddy MB, Hasan NA, Subramanian P, Heberling C, Cotruvo J, Colwell RR. 2017. Characterization of Microbial Signatures From Advanced Treated Wastewater Biofilms. Journal - American Water Works Association. 109:E503-E512.

Jutla A, Khan R, Colwell RR. 2017. Natural Disasters and Cholera Outbreaks: Current Understanding and Future Outlook. Current Environmental Health Reports. (1Suppl 1):99-107.

McIntyre ABR, Ounit R, Afshinnekoo E, Prill RJ, Hénaff E, Alexander N, Minot SS, Danko D, Foox J, Ahsanuddin S et al.. 2017. Comprehensive benchmarking and ensemble approaches for metagenomic classifiers. Genome Biology. (1210)

Junqueira AC, Ratan A, Acerbi E, Drautz-Moses DI, Premkrishnan BNV, Costea PI, Linz B, Purbojati RW, Paulo DF, Gaultier NE et al.. 2017. The microbiomes of blowflies and houseflies as bacterial transmission reservoirs. Scientific Reports. (1)

Khajanchi BK, Hasan NA, Choi SYoung, Han J, Zhao S, Colwell RR, Cerniglia CE, Foley SL. 2017. Comparative genomic analysis and characterization of incompatibility group FIB plasmid encoded virulence factors of Salmonella enterica isolated from food sources. BMC Genomics.

Ranjan A, Shaik S, Nandanwar N, Hussain A, Tiwari SK, Semmler T, Jadhav S, Wieler LH, Alam M, Colwell RR et al.. 2017. Comparative Genomics of Escherichia coli Isolated from Skin and Soft Tissue and Other Extraintestinal Infections. mBio. (4)

Jumat M, Hasan N, Subramanian P, Heberling C, Colwell RR, Hong P-Y. 2017. Membrane Bioreactor-Based Wastewater Treatment Plant in Saudi Arabia: Reduction of Viral Diversity, Load, and Infectious Capacity. Water. 96046Volume 70(7):534.

Tighe S, Afshinnekoo E, Rock TM, McGrath K, Alexander N, McIntyre A, Ahsanuddin S, Bezdan D, Green SJ, Joye S et al.. 2017. Genomic Methods and Microbiological Technologies for Profiling Novel and Extreme Environments for the Extreme Microbiome Project (XMP). Journal of Biomolecular Techniques : JBT. 28(1):31-39.

Phelps C, Madhavan G, Rappuoli R, Colwell RR, Fineberg H. 2017. Beyond cost-effectiveness: Using systems analysis for infectious disease preparedness. Vaccine. 35:A46-A49.

Huq A, Anwar R, Colwell RR, McDonald MD, Khan R, Jutla A, Akanda S. 2017. Assessment of Risk of Cholera in Haiti following Hurricane Matthew. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 97(3):896-903.

Connelly S., Bristol J.A., Hubert S., Subramanian P., Hasan N.A., Colwell RR, Kaleko M.. 2017. SYN-004 (ribaxamase), an oral beta-lactamase, mitigates antibiotic-mediated dysbiosis in a porcine gut microbiome model. Journal of Applied Microbiology. (1Suppl 11):66-79.

Rashed SM, Hasan NA, Alam M, Sadique A, Sultana M, Hoq M.Mozammel, R. Sack B, Colwell RR, Huq A. 2017. Vibrio cholerae O1 with Reduced Susceptibility to Ciprofloxacin and Azithromycin Isolated from a Rural Coastal Area of Bangladesh. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Carpenter MR, Kalburge SS, Borowski JD, Peters MC, Colwell RR, E. Boyd F. 2017. CRISPR-Cas and Contact-Dependent Secretion Systems Present on Excisable Pathogenicity Islands with Conserved Recombination Modules. Journal of Bacteriology. (10)

Briquaire R, Colwell RR, Boncy J, Rossignol E, Dardy A, Pandini I, Villeval F, Machuron J-L, Huq A, Rashed S et al.. 2017. Application of a paper based device containing a new culture medium to detect Vibrio cholerae in water samples collected in Haiti. Journal of Microbiological Methods. 133:23-31.

2016

Motesharrei S, Rivas J, Kalnay E, Asrar GR, Busalacchi AJ, Cahalan RF, Cane MA, Colwell RR, Feng K, Franklin RS et al.. 2016. Modeling Sustainability: Population, Inequality, Consumption, and Bidirectional Coupling of the Earth and Human Systems. National Science Review. :nww081.

Sanhueza D, Chevillon C, Colwell RR, Babonneau J, Marion E, Marsollier L, gan çoisé. 2016. Chitin promotes Mycobacterium ulcerans growth. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 928565871(6):fiw067.

Ottesen A, Ramachandran P, Reed E, White JR, Hasan N, Subramanian P, Ryan G, Jarvis K, Grim C, Daquiqan N et al.. 2016. Enrichment dynamics of Listeria monocytogenes and the associated microbiome from naturally contaminated ice cream linked to a listeriosis outbreak. BMC Microbiology.

Ceccarelli D, Alam M, Huq A, Colwell RR. 2016. Reduced Susceptibility to Extended-Spectrum β-Lactams in Vibrio cholerae Isolated in Bangladesh. Frontiers in Public Health.

Madsen LD, Colwell RR. 2016. Recognition of achievement – priorities and process. Materials Today. 19(10):547-549.

Filho J.E.Martinelli, Lopes R.M., Rivera I.N.G., Colwell RR. 2016. Are natural reservoirs important for cholera surveillance? The case of an outbreak in a Brazilian estuary Letters in Applied Microbiology. (3):183-188.

Vezzulli L, Grande C, Reid PC, laouët Pé, Edwards M, fle MG ö, Brettar I, Colwell RR, Pruzzo C. 2016. Climate influence on Vibrio and associated human diseases during the past half-century in the coastal North Atlantic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. :E5062-E5071.

Carraro N, Rivard N, Ceccarelli D, Colwell RR, Burrus V. 2016. IncA/C Conjugative Plasmids Mobilize a New Family of Multidrug Resistance Islands in Clinical Vibrio cholerae Non-O1/Non-O139 Isolates from Haiti. mBio. (4)

Madhavan G, Phelps CE, Colwell RR, Rappuoli R, Fineberg HV. 2016. In Plain View: A Transparent Systems Approach for Enhancing Health Policy Decisions. The Bridge.

Rashid M-ur, Almeida M, Azman AS, Lindsay BR, Sack DA, Colwell RR, Huq A, J. Morris G, Alam M, O. Stine C. 2016. Comparison of inferred relatedness based on multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis and whole genome sequencing of Vibrio cholerae O1. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 36389(12):fnw116.

Phelps C, Madhavan G, Rappuoli R, LEVIN SCOTT, Shortlife E, Colwell RR. 2016. Strategic Planning in Population Health and Public Health Practice: A Call to Action for Higher Education. The Milbank Quarterly. 94906033(143S2):109-125.

Choi SY, Rashed SM, Hasan NA, Alam M, Islam T, Sadique A, Johura F-T, Eppinger M, Ravel J, Huq A et al.. 2016. Phylogenetic Diversity of Vibrio cholerae Associated with Endemic Cholera in Mexico from 1991 to 2008. mBio. 7(2)

Ponnusamy D, Kozlova EV, Sha J, Erova TE, Azar SR, Fitts EC, Kirtley ML, Tiner BL, Andersson JA, Grim CJ et al.. 2016. Cross-talk among flesh-eating Aeromonas hydrophila strains in mixed infection leading to necrotizing fasciitis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 11312161268(3321029):722-727.

2015

Hill VR, Humphrys MS, Kahler AM, Boncy J, Tarr CL, Huq A, Chen A, Katz LS, Mull BJ, Derado G et al.. 2015. Environmental Surveillance for Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae in Surface Waters of Haiti. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 92(1):118-125.

Hasan NA, Rezayat T, Blatz PJ, Choi SYoung, Griffitt KJ, Rashed SM, Huq A, Conger NG, Colwell RR, D. Grimes J. 2015. Nontoxigenic Vibrio cholerae Non-O1/O139 Isolate from a Case of Human Gastroenteritis in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. (1):9-14.

Colwell RR, Unnikrishnan A, Jutla A, Huq A, Akanda A. 2015. Predictive Time Series Analysis Linking Bengal Cholera with Terrestrial Water Storage Measured from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Sensors. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 93(6):1179-1186.

Alivisatos A.P, Blaser M.J, Brodie E.L, Chun M., Dangl J.L, Donohue T.J, Dorrestein P.C, Gilbert J.A, Green J.L, Jansson J.K et al.. 2015. A unified initiative to harness Earth's microbiomes. Science. (62607551614341176):507-508.

Bartholomew JC, Pearson AD, Stenseth NC, LeDuc JW, Hirschberg DL, Colwell RR. 2015. Building Infectious Disease Research Programs to Promote Security and Enhance Collaborations with Countries of the Former Soviet Union. Frontiers in Public Health. 35361632

Jutla A, Aldaach H, Billian H, Akanda A, Huq A, Colwell RR. 2015. Satellite Based Assessment of Hydroclimatic Conditions Related to Cholera in Zimbabwe. PLOS ONE. (9Suppl 1):e0137828.

Nasr-Azadani F, Unnikrishnan A, Akanda A, Islam S, Alam M, Huq A, Jutla A, Colwell RR. 2015. Downscaling river discharge to assess the effects of climate change on cholera outbreaks in the Bengal Delta. Climate Research. 64(3):257-274.

Esteves K, Hervio-Heath D, Mosser T, Rodier C, Tournoud M-G, Jumas-Bilak E, Colwell RR, Monfort P. 2015. Rapid Proliferation of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, and Vibrio cholerae during Freshwater Flash Floods in French Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. (21):7600-7609.

Rahaman M.Habibur, Islam T, Colwell RR, Alam M. 2015. Molecular tools in understanding the evolution of Vibrio cholerae. Frontiers in Microbiology. (e0120311154e00398-13822020380817190)

Zaitchik B.F, Guikema S.D, Haley B.J, Taviani E., Chen A., Brown M.E., Huq A., Colwell RR. 2015. Use of Environmental Parameters to Model Pathogenic Vibrios in Chesapeake Bay. Journal of Environmental Informatics.

Klinzing DC, Choi SYoung, Hasan NA, Matias RR, Tayag E, Geronimo J, Skowronski E, Rashed SM, Kawashima K, C. Rosenzweig N et al.. 2015. Hybrid Vibrio cholerae El Tor Lacking SXT Identified as the Cause of a Cholera Outbreak in the Philippines. mBio. (2)

Hasan NA, Grim CJ, Lipp EK, Rivera ING, Chun J, Haley BJ, Taviani E, Choi SYoung, Hoq M, A. Munk C et al.. 2015. Deep-sea hydrothermal vent bacteria related to human pathogenic Vibrio species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (2144666966517):E2813-E2819.

Castro-Nallar E, Hasan NA, Cebula TA, Colwell RR, Robison RA, W. Johnson E, Crandall KA. 2015. Concordance and discordance of sequence survey methods for molecular epidemiology. PeerJ. (8105394):e761.

Jutla A, Huq A, Colwell RR. 2015. Diagnostic Approach for Monitoring Hydroclimatic Conditions Related to Emergence of West Nile Virus in West Virginia. Frontiers in Public Health.

Kokashvili T, Whitehouse CA, Tskhvediani A, Grim CJ, Elbakidze T, Mitaishvili N, Janelidze N, Jaiani E, Haley BJ, Lashkhi N et al.. 2015. Occurrence and Diversity of Clinically Important Vibrio Species in the Aquatic Environment of Georgia. Frontiers in Public Health.

Ceccarelli D, Chen A, Hasan NA, Rashed SM, Huq A, Colwell RR. 2015. Non-O1/Non-O139 Vibrio cholerae Carrying Multiple Virulence Factors and V. cholerae O1 in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. (631):1909-1918.

2014

Ceccarelli D, Colwell RR. 2014. Vibrio ecology, pathogenesis, and evolution. Frontiers in Microbiology.

Kirchberger P.C, Turnsek M., Hunt D.E, Haley B.J, Colwell RR, Polz M.F, Tarr C.L, Boucher Y.. 2014. Vibrio metoecus sp. nov., a close relative of Vibrio cholerae isolated from coastal brackish ponds and clinical specimens. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLOGY. (Pt 95616795215116120545121):3208-3214.

Budowle B, Connell ND, Bielecka-Oder A, Colwell RR, Corbett CR, Fletcher J, Forsman M, Kadavy DR, Markotic A, Morse SA et al.. 2014. Validation of high throughput sequencing and microbial forensics applications. Investigative Genetics. 5(1):9.

Hasan NA, Young BA, Minard-Smith AT, Saeed K, Li H, Heizer EM, McMillan NJ, Isom R, Abdullah AShakur, Bornman DM et al.. 2014. Microbial Community Profiling of Human Saliva Using Shotgun Metagenomic Sequencing. PLoS ONE. (5):e97699.

Haley BJ, Kokashvili T, Tskshvediani A, Janelidze N, Mitaishvili N, Grim CJ, Constantin_de_Magny G, Chen AJ, Taviani E, Eliashvili T et al.. 2014. Molecular diversity and predictability of Vibrio parahaemolyticus along the Georgian coastal zone of the Black Sea. Frontiers in Microbiology. 5

Akanda AS, Jutla AS, Colwell RR. 2014. Global diarrhoea action plan needs integrated climate-based surveillance. The Lancet Global Health. 2(2):e69-e70.

D. Grimes J, Ford TE, Colwell RR, Baker-Austin C, Martinez-Urtaza J, Subramaniam A, Capone DG. 2014. Viewing Marine Bacteria, Their Activity and Response to Environmental Drivers from Orbit. Microbial Ecology. (38):489-500.

Alam M, Rashed SM, Bin Mannan S, Islam T, Lizarraga-Partida ML, Delgado G, Morales-Espinosa R, Mendez JLuis, Navarro A, Watanabe H et al.. 2014. Occurrence in Mexico, 1998–2008, of Vibrio cholerae CTX ⁺ El Tor carrying an additional truncated CTX prophage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111(27):9917-9922.

Azarian T, Ali A, Johnson JA, Mohr D, Prosperi M, Veras NM, Jubair M, Strickland SL, Rashid MH, Alam MT et al.. 2014. Phylodynamic Analysis of Clinical and Environmental Vibrio cholerae Isolates from Haiti Reveals Diversification Driven by Positive Selection. mBio. (6)

2013

Jutla A, Akanda AShafqat, Huq A, Faruque ASyed Golam, Colwell RR, Islam S. 2013. A water marker monitored by satellites to predict seasonal endemic cholera. Remote Sensing Letters. 4472741982394456(8):822-831.

Rashid A, Haley BJ, Rajabov M, Ahmadova S, Gurbanov S, Colwell RR, Huq A. 2013. Detection of Vibrio cholerae in environmental waters including drinking water reservoirs of Azerbaijan. Environmental Microbiology Reports. (1):30-38.

Clements JD, Connell ND, Dirks C, El-Faham M, Hay A, Heitman E, Stith JH, Bond EC, Colwell RR, Anestidou L et al.. 2013. Engaging Actively with Issues in the Responsible Conduct of Science: Lessons from International Efforts Are Relevant for Undergraduate Education in the United States. CBE—Life Sciences Education. (4):596-603.