Dr. Eva Top
Professor emerita of Biology
Department of Biological Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
Life Sciences South 258
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID 83844-3051
Office Phone: +01 (208) 885-5015
evatop [at] uidaho.edu
Lab: Life Sciences South 457
Lab Phone: +01 (208) 885-8858
Dr. Top is Professor emerita in the Department of Biological Sciences and is also affiliated with the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology graduate program and IIDS, the Institute of Interdisciplinary Data Sciences. She received her Masters and Ph. D degrees from the Ghent University in Belgium in biological engineering and microbial ecology. She is a fellow of the American Association for the advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM), Secretary for the ISPB (International Society for Plasmid Biology and other Mobile Genetic Elements), Associate Editor for the journal Plasmid, and an editorial board member for the ISME Journal. Her expertise lies at the interface of microbial ecology, evolution, genetics and genomics.
Her research is currently focused on the ecology and evolution of multi-drug resistance (MDR) plasmids in bacteria. Since rapid spread of MDR to human pathogens threatens the treatment of infectious diseases, novel therapies are needed that limit the spread of new resistance genes. However, the factors that determine successful transfer and persistence of MDR plasmids are still poorly understood. Her main research questions focus on the evolutionary mechanisms and dynamics of plasmid-bacteria co-evolution. She is also interested in the natural reservoirs, diversity and evolutionary history of MDR plasmids in environmental habitats, and studies the effects of spreading dairy manure on the abundance and diversity of MDR plasmid reservoirs in soils.
