James Tiedje

Dr. James Tiedje is a Director at Ontario Genomics Institute (Private Equity).
Dr. Tiedje has served on the OGI Board of Directors since 2009.
He is also University Distinguished Professor in both the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.
He is a leading expert in microbial ecology, physiology, diversity and biodegradation of environmental pollutants, and has authored or co-authored over 400 research publications in leading and sector-specific life science journals.
His group discovered several microbes that live by halorespiration on chlorinated chemicals and is using genomics to better understand ecological functions, speciation and niche adaptation.
Dr. Tiedje has served as Editor-in-Chief of Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Editor of Microbial and Molecular Biology Reviews.
He served on the Board on Life Sciences of the National Research Council and co-chaired the committee responsible for their New Science of Metagenomics report.
He was President of the American Society for Microbiology in 2004 to 2005; President of the International Society of Microbial Ecology from 1998 to 2001; and Chair of the Soil Biology Division of the International Union of Soil Science from 1998 to 2002.
He shared the 1992 Finley Prize from UNESCO for research contributions in microbiology of international significance, and has received the Soil Science Research Award from the Soil Science Society of America and the Environmental Award from the American Society of Microbiology.
Dr. Tiedje is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the American Academy of Microbiology and the Soil Science Society of America.
He is also a member of the U.S National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Tiedje received his BS degree from Iowa State University and his MS and PhD degrees from Cornell University in soil microbiology with a minor in biochemistry.