User:Houra Merrikh

Contact Info

• Houra Merrikh
• Grossman Lab, Department of Biology, M.I.T., Building 68-540D, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02139

• Email me through OpenWetWare

I am a post-doctoral research fellow in the Grossman Lab at MIT. Currently, I am studying mechanisms underlying replication control in B.subtilis.

Education

• 2009, PhD, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Brandeis University
• 2005, MS, Biochemistry, Brandeis University
• 2002, BS, Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences, University of Houston, magna cum laude

Publications

• Lilah Rahn-Lee, Merrikh H, Grossman AD, Losick R. The Sporulation Protein SirA Inhibits the Binding of DnaA to the Origin of

Replication by Contacting a Patch of Clustered Amino Acids. Journal of Bacteriology. in press.

• Merrikh H*, Machon C*, Grainger W, Grossman AD, Soultanas P. Replication-transcription conflicts at rRNA genes

lead to replication restart in vivo. Nature. in press. *Equal contribution.

• Smits WK*, Merrikh H*, Bonilla CY, Grossman AD . Association of the helicase loader proteins DnaB and DnaD with

targets of the initiator protein DnaA in Bacillus subtilis. Journal of Bacteriology. in press. *Equal contribution.

• Merrikh H, Ferrazzoli AE, Lovett ST. Growth phase and ppGpp control of IraD, a regulator

of RpoS stability, in Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology. Dec;191(24):7436-46. 2009.

• Goranov AI, Breier AM, Merrikh H, and Grossman AD. YabA of Bacillus subtilis controls DnaA-mediated replication

initiation but not the transcriptional response to replication stress. Mol Micro. Oct;74(2):454-66. 2009.

• Merrikh H, Ferrazzoli AE, Bougdour A, Olivier-Mason A, Lovett ST. A DNA damage response in Escherichia coli involving

the alternative sigma factor, RpoS. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Jan 13;106(2):611-6. 2009.

Highlighted in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16, 106 (January 2009) under research highlights.

• Celenza JL, Quiel JA, Smolen GA, Merrikh H, Silvestro AR, Normanly J, Bender J. The Arabidopsis ATR1 Myb

transcription factor controls indolic glucosinolate homeostasis. Plant Physiology. Jan;137(1):253-62. 2005.

• Dower K, Kupperwasser N, Merrikh H, Rosbash M. A synthetic A tail rescues yeast nuclear accumulation of a

ribozyme-terminated transcript.RNA. Dec;10(12):1888-99.

• Miinea C, Kuruvilla R, Merrikh H, Eichberg J. Altered arachidonic acid biosynthesis and antioxidant protection

mechanisms in Schwann cells grown in elevated glucose. Journal of Neurochemistry Jun;81(6):1253-62. 2002.