John Archibald
Program
Integrated Microbial Biodiversity
Appointment
Fellow
Institution
Dalhousie University
Country
Canada 
John Archibald is a Fellow of CIFAR’s Integrated Microbial Biodiversity program. His lab studies a group of microscopic algae called cryptophytes, the cellular equivalent of Russian dolls.
Dr. Archibald is interested in how these microbes evolve. Cryptophytes have evolved to photosynthesize – they acquired this ability by eating other microbes that contain chloroplasts, the light-harvesting machinery of the plant world. Instead of digesting their prey, the cryptophytes retain them, along with their chloroplasts. The relationship is endosymbiotic; the prey (the endosymbiont) helps the host (the cryptophyte) generate energy. Over millions of years, the host and endosymbiont cells trade genetic material, eventually leading to the creation of a completely new – and much more complex – microorganism. Dr. Archibald’s lab has made major steps towards understanding this process at the genetic level by analyzing how genes are transferred and integrated.
Dr. Archibald is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Dalhousie University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Dalhousie in 2001 and was an Izaak Walton Killam post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia for 2 years. He is also a former member of CIFAR’s Evolutionary Biology Program. Dr. Archibald is the recipient of several recent awards including a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the 2008 Award of Excellence in Basic Research from the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation. His contributions to the scientific community include serving as Associate Editor for two journals (Phycological Research and Journal of Phycology) and as Treasurer of the Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution. Dr. Archibald is the author of more than ~80 scientific publications since the year 2000.
Dr. Archibald is interested in how these microbes evolve. Cryptophytes have evolved to photosynthesize – they acquired this ability by eating other microbes that contain chloroplasts, the light-harvesting machinery of the plant world. Instead of digesting their prey, the cryptophytes retain them, along with their chloroplasts. The relationship is endosymbiotic; the prey (the endosymbiont) helps the host (the cryptophyte) generate energy. Over millions of years, the host and endosymbiont cells trade genetic material, eventually leading to the creation of a completely new – and much more complex – microorganism. Dr. Archibald’s lab has made major steps towards understanding this process at the genetic level by analyzing how genes are transferred and integrated.
Dr. Archibald is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Dalhousie University. He obtained his Ph.D. from Dalhousie in 2001 and was an Izaak Walton Killam post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia for 2 years. He is also a former member of CIFAR’s Evolutionary Biology Program. Dr. Archibald is the recipient of several recent awards including a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the 2008 Award of Excellence in Basic Research from the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation. His contributions to the scientific community include serving as Associate Editor for two journals (Phycological Research and Journal of Phycology) and as Treasurer of the Society for Molecular Biology & Evolution. Dr. Archibald is the author of more than ~80 scientific publications since the year 2000.