About Me
My name is Marcus. I am a life scientist, educator, father, and husband. I built my website, Marcus Chibucos, Ph.D. Professional Science, Personal Blog, to tell people about my career in science, share my scientific publications, inform people about my freelance manuscript editing & genomics services, and host my personal blog—where I discuss science, family life, miscellaneous ideas, and observations.
I hope you enjoy my site. Feel free to get in touch. Thank you for visiting.
Warm regards,
Marcus
Marcus Chibucos, Ph.D. Professional Science, Personal Blog
Overview
In broad terms, I am a scientist & educator who is interested in microbe-host interactions, genomics, and bioinformatics. I have an abiding interest in fungal genomics, plant symbiosis, and the biology of oomycetes & fungi. I am curious about how plants and microbes interact, both from an evolutionary perspective and in terms of how we might utilize aspects of their dynamics to enhance agricultural productivity and ecological sustainability.
Genomics & Bioinformatics
Presently I work as a bioinformatician. I have been part of many interesting projects involving genomics of host-associated microbes from across the tree of life—including animal and plant pathogens important to medicine, agriculture, industry, or ecology. To drive research on functional genomics of organismal interactions, I build genome annotation pipelines and annotate & analyze genomes. I use approaches such as comparative genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics in my work.
Bioontologies
I also create ontological resources that allow scientists to analyze, standardize, and share data. I have worked on the Evidence and Conclusion Ontology, Ontology for Microbial Phenotypes, Gene Ontology, and others.
Plant Sciences
Before working in bioinformatics, I studied plant pathology in the laboratory for my doctorate, followed by postdoctoral training in oomycete genomics & Plant-Associated Microbe Gene Ontology.
Plants are why I got into science. I have long enjoyed visiting botanical gardens & arboreta, growing plants, doing taxonomy, and reading about economic botany. While working toward my liberal arts bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy, my favorite course was taxonomy & field biology of plants. In graduate school I initially studied plant ecology and worked on native plants & prairie restoration.
Teaching & Mentoring
I love sharing my knowledge and helping others learn about science. In addition to being a researcher, I am an experienced educator. I have taught professional scientists, faculty, and students at dozens of workshops on genomics & ontologies; mentored interns & graduate students; taught undergraduate labs in plant sciences & microbiology; lectured at community colleges; and enjoyed many other opportunities to engage people in science.
Publications
I hope you check out my scientific publications, which I am happy to say are nearly all open access. If you want to discuss my research or ask me a question related to science, feel free to reach out!
My career in science has been an interesting journey—I have studied biology at the computer, in the field, and in the laboratory.
Scientific Services
“Put my expertise to work for you. If you need assistance with scientific writing or genome analysis, I can help.”
© Marcus Chibucos, Ph.D.
Manuscript Editing
Do you need help creating a high-quality scientific manuscript? I have years of practical experience communicating science simply, clearly, and effectively—even the most esoteric concepts. I can write, edit, critique, and enhance your scientific manuscript to put your science in the best light possible. Contact me to discuss your editing & writing needs today.
Genome Analysis
If you have raw sequence data and want tell a scientific story with it, I can help. Using my expertise in genomics, I can take your raw sequence data and assign putative structural & functional predictions. Next, I perform a range of explorative analyses appropriate to your organisms & research questions to generate useful hypotheses—driving your research forward. I am methodical, detailed, and clear. I will explain everything I do, so that it all makes sense to you.
My Blog
My blog went live in January 2020. I write about my personal and professional interests and experiences—my science, my family life, and the stuff I do and think about day-to-day. As my blog grows, it will be somewhat eclectic—just the way I like it.
I intend for all my posts to be thoughtful, well written, and researched thoroughly (when applicable). Many of my science-related writings will be aimed at a general audience, but some will be technical.
If it’s something I know, do, or think about, I might address it on my blog. You can read more about my blog, including why I write and what I cover—or go straight to reading my blog.
Adaptive Evolution of Olfaction Genes
Silva MC, Chibucos M, Munro JB, Daugherty S, Coelho MM, and Silva JC. (2020) Signature of adaptive evolution in olfactory receptor genes in Cory’s Shearwater supports molecular basis for smell in procellariiform seabirds. Scientific Reports. 10(1):543.
January, 2020
Ontology of Microbial Phenotypes
Siegele DA, LaBonte SA, Wu PI, Chibucos MC, Nadendla S, Giglio MG, and Hu JC. (2019) Phenotype annotation with the Ontology of Microbial Phenotypes (OMP). Journal of Biomedical Semantics. 10(1):13.
July, 2019
High-Throughput Gene Annotation
Attrill H, Gaudet P, Huntley RP, Lovering RC, Engel SR, Poux S, Van Auken KM, Georghiou G, Chibucos MC, Berardini TZ, Wood V, Drabkin H, Fey P, Garmiri P, Harris MA, Sawford T, Tauber R, Toro S, and the Gene Ontology Consortium. (2019) Annotation of gene product function from high throughput studies using the Gene Ontology. Database (Oxford).v.2019:baz007.
February, 2019
Evidence & Conclusion Ontology
Giglio MG, Tauber R, Nadendla S, Munro J, Olley D, Ball S, Mitraka E, Schriml LM, Gaudet P, Hobbs ET, Erill I, Siegele DA, Hu JC, Mungall C, and Chibucos MC. (2018) ECO, the Evidence and Conclusion Ontology: Community Standard for Evidence Information. Nucleic Acids Research. gky1036.
November, 2018
Let’s Connect
I love collaborating & interacting with diverse people from all walks of life. So whoever you are, don’t hesitate to contact me—whether it’s to inquire about my research or scientific services, discuss my blog, or ask me a question.
Join My Email List
You are welcome to join my email list. It’s a great way to stay up-to-date on my new blog posts, papers, and announcements.
Comment on My Blog
I’d love to hear your thoughts about my blog posts. Feel free to add to the discussion in the comments section.
If you would like me to address a particular topic in the future, let me know on my contact form.
Find Me Online
You can find me on Medium, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter—use the social icons at the top & bottom of my site. If you are a scientific researcher like me, you might have profiles on ResearchGate, ORCiD, Google Scholar, Impactstory, and elsewhere. Feel free to connect with me and follow my work, whether you do science professionally or are just curious. You can find me in many other places online, too.
Writing & images on my site, Marcus Chibucos, Ph.D. Professional Science, Personal Blog, are my original copyrighted work, unless otherwise indicated. Generally, I license my work under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, meaning you can share/copy or adapt my work without asking permission, but you must: (1) provide attribution; (2) use my work for non–commercial purposes; and (3) share any derivative work under the same license, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. See human-readable summary or full license for details.
To attribute: (1) Show my name and copyright, as in “© Marcus Chibucos, Ph.D.”; (2) link to my original material (from this site); and (3) include the license “CC BY-NC-SA 4.0”. (4) If you modify my work, also add a disclaimer crediting my work as the source, display the same license, and add a link to the license.
Feel free to reach out if you have questions or if you reference my work—not because you must, but because I’d love to see how you used it and to check out your work, too.
Commercial: Contact me to excerpt, reprint, or otherwise use my writing or images for commercial purposes.
Thank you for visiting.
