Matthew Montgomery
Matthew is a former research technician whose primary goal was to identify and characterize bacteriophages that infect Gordonia terrae, an Actinomycetale that is closely related to Mycobacterium. Investigating these alternative hosts and the phages that infect them is important because it widens the pool of genes that are frequently transferred horizontally between bacteria and phages. In so doing, we can gain valuable insight not only on Gordonia terrae and its phages, but potentially Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other Actinomycetales. He also analyzed the genomes of the phages he found and characterized by comparing them to each other, as well as phages that infect other members of the order Actinomycetales. This approach, in conjunction with host range and lysogeny experiments, can uncover evolutionary relationships that result from the horizontal gene transfer performed by bacteria and viruses.
Matthew 'Monty' Montgomery graduated from the University of Pittsburgh.