Last updated 4 Aug. 2023
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Education
Doctor of Philosophy — Cornell University, 2022
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Field of Genetics, Genomics & Development
Thesis: Metagenomic Methods to Investigate Mobile Element Context and Nascent Transcription in the Human Gut Microbiome
Bachelor of Science — Gettysburg College, 2016
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major, magna cum laude
Lincoln Scholar – highest merit-based scholarship awarded
Research Experience
Postdoctoral Associate — Lab of Dr. Paul Turner, Yale University
Studying the evolutionary dynamics of phages of human pathogens as part of the ongoing efforts at the Center for Phage Biology and Therapy at Yale — March 2023 – Present
PhD Candidate — Lab of Dr. Ilana Brito, Cornell University
Designing and implementing methods to quantify changes in the composition and function of the human gut microbiome during perturbation and disease — May 2017 – May 2022
HHMI Summer Research Fellow — Gettysburg College
Characterizing soil bacteriophages by host range screens and comparative genomics — Summers 2014 & 2015
Publications
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Vill AC, Rice EJ, De Vlaminck I, Danko CG, Brito IL. Run-on sequencing reveals transcriptional dynamics within the human microbiome. Preprint
Chivu AG, Abuhashem A, Barshad G, Rice EJ, Leger MM, Vill AC, Wong W, Brady R, Smith JJ, Wikramanayake AH, Arenas-Mena C, Brito IL, Ruiz-Trillo I, Hadjantonakis AK, Lis JT, Lewis JJ, Danko CG. Evolution of promoter-proximal pausing enabled a new layer of transcription control. Preprint
Grodner B, Shi H, Farchione O, Vill AC, Ntekas I, Diebold PJ, Zipfel WR, Brito IL, De Vlaminck I. Spatial Mapping of Mobile Genetic Elements and their Cognate Hosts in Complex Microbiomes. Preprint
Vill AC, Delesalle VA, Tomko BE, Lichty KB, Simões MS, Guffey AA, Burton EA, Tanke NT, Krukonis GP. Comparative genomics of six lytic Bacillus subtilis phages from the Southwest United States. PHAGE. 2022 3(3):171-178.
Delesalle VA, Tomko BE, Vill AC, Boas K, Krukonis GP. Forty Years without Family: Three Novel Bacteriophages with High Similarity to SPP1 Reveal Decades of Evolutionary Stasis since the Isolation of Their Famous Relative. Viruses. 2022 14(10):2106
Kent AG, Vill AC †, Shi Q, Satlin MJ, Brito IL. Widespread transfer of mobile antibiotic resistance genes within individual gut microbiomes revealed through bacterial Hi-C. Nature Communications. 2020 11(1):4379.
Delesalle VA, Tanke NT, Vill AC, Krukonis GP. Testing hypotheses for the presence of tRNA genes in mycobacteriophage genomes. Bacteriophage. 2016 6(3):e1219441.
Pope WH, Bowman CA, Russell DA, Jacobs-Sera D, Asai DJ, Cresawn SG, Jacobs WR, Hendrix RW, Lawrence JG, Hatfull GF; Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science ‡; Phage Hunters Integrating Research and Education; Mycobacterial Genetics Course. Whole genome comparison of a large collection of mycobacteriophages reveals a continuum of phage genetic diversity. eLife. 2015 4:e06416.
† co-first author
‡ consortium member, data contributor
Honors and Awards
Travel Award Recipient, Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics — 2022
Seed Grant Recipient, Genomics Innovation Hub — 2020
Distinguished Scholar, Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics — 2019
Honorable Mention, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship — 2018
Herzog Teaching Fellow, Gettysburg College — 2015
HHMI Summer Research Fellow, Gettysburg College — 2014 & 2015
Service and Outreach
Coordinator, Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics Journal Club — Fall 2021 - Spring 2022
Graduate Mentor, Microbial Friends & Foes Research Experience for non-Cornell Undergraduates — Summer 2019
Workshop Facilitator, 4-H Career Explorations “Engineering the Microbiome” Focus Program — June 26-28, 2018
Graduate Fellow, Cornell Graduate Student School Outreach Program — Spring 2018