prof yann in tie and shirt

Associate Professor (Research)

Email ephyb@nus.edu.sg
Web Boucher Lab

BOUCHER Yann Felix

I am interested in the life cycle of enteric bacterial pathogens, from their residence in the human microbiome to their dispersal and survival outside the body. I investigate the evolution of new pathogenic variants during this cycle, such as the acquisition of antimicrobial resistance and novel virulence factors. Although disease mechanisms of several enteric pathogens have been well studied, their ecology is much less understood, especially their interactions with other microbes in the environment. I believe the key to understanding a pathogen is to look below the species level, focusing on the specific ecological preferences of a given lineage, both inside and outside its host.

I started my career studying lateral gene transfer, the movement of genes between microorganisms. I then looked at integrons, genetic elements which are molecular machines with the purpose of acquiring new genes without disrupting the host genome. From there I went one to study population structures of bacteria in aquatic environments, before moving into genomic epidemiology, tracking the causative agent of cholera in various locales and describing novel pathogenic species. Here in Singapore, I am continuing this work by looking at the subspecies ecology and evolution of enteric pathogens.

Affiliation

  • NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (Primary)
  • Principal Fellow, NUS Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE)

Research Areas

  • Discovery and characterization of novel pathogens: genomic taxonomy and epidemiology
  • Human and environmental reservoirs of enteric pathogens: molecular microbial ecology
  • Emergence of novel pathogens: experimental evolution and evolution on human timescales

Teaching Areas

  • Public Health, the One Health approach: People, Animals and the Environment

Academic/Professional Qualifications

  • PhD Biohcemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada)
  • BSc Biochemistry, Université Laval (Québec, Canada)

Awards/Honours

  • James H. Nakano Citation (Centers for Disease Control USA)
  • Senior Fellow, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
  • Sentinel of Science Award (Immunology and Microbiology)

Career History

  • Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada
  • Merck-MIT Systems Biology Fellow, School of Environmental and Civil Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Macquarie University Research Fellow, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia

Professional/Consulting Activities

  • Environmental microbiology (Society for Applied Microbiology): Editorial board member
  • Microorganisms (MDPI): Editorial board member (Public Health section)
  • Frontiers in Public Health: Review Editor

Major Publications

  • A Vibrio Cholerae Core Genome Multilocus Sequence Typing Scheme to Facilitate the Epidemiological Study of Cholera (2020). Y. H. Liang, F.D. Orata, M.T. Islam, M Alam, C.L. Tarr, Y.F. Boucher. Journal of Bacteriology, Jun 15;JB.00086-20. doi: 10.1128/JB.00086-20
  • Culture‐independent tracking of Vibrio choleraelineages reveals complex spatiotemporal dynamics in a natural population (2020). P.C. Kirchberger, F.D. Orata, T. Nasreen, K.M. Kauffman, C.L. Tarr, R.J. Case, M.F. Polz, Y. Boucher. Environmental Microbiology, Jan 22:EM. doi:  10.1111/1462-2920.14921
  • Emergence, ecology and dispersal of the pandemic-generating Vibrio cholerae lineage. M.T.Islam, M. Alam, Y. Boucher (2017). International Microbiology 20(3):106-115.
  • Sequential displacement of Type VI Secretion System effector genes leads to evolution of diverse immunity gene arrays in Vibrio cholerae (2017) C. Kirchberger, D. Unterweger, D. Provenzano, S. Pukatzki, Y. Boucher. Scientific Reports 7:45133.
  • A genomic island in Vibrio cholerae with VPI-1 site-specific recombination characteristics contains a CRISPR-Cas module and type VI secretion system (2016) M. Labbate, N.D. Jayatilleke, W.L. King, C. Allen, G. Mann, A. Mutreja, F.D. Orata, P.C. Kirchberger, Y. Boucher, N. Thomson, I.G. Charles. Scientific Reports 6:36891.
  • A small number of phylogenetically distinct clonal complexes dominate a coastal Vibrio cholerae population (2016) P.C. Kirchberger, F.D. Orata, E.J. Barlow, K.M. Kauffman, R.J. Case, M.F. Polz, Y. Boucher. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 82: 5576-5586.
  • Sustained Local Diversity of Vibrio cholerae O1 Biotypes in a Previously Cholera-Free Country (2016) Y. Boucher. mBio 7(3): e00570-16.
  • Major tdh+ Vibrio parahaemolyticus serotype changes temporally in the Bay of Bengal estuary of Bangladesh (2016) F Akther, S.B. Neogi, B. Chowdhury, A. Sadique, A. Islam, M.Z.  Akhter, F.T. Johura, M. Ohnishi, H. Watanabe, Y. Boucher, M. Alam. Infection, Genetics and Evolution 41:153-9.
  • Dynamics of genetic interactions between Vibrio cholerae and its closest relative, Vibrio metoecus (2015) F.D. Orata, P.C. Kirchberger, R. Méheust, E. J. Barlow, C.L. Tarr, Y. Boucher. Genome Biology and Evolution 7(10):2941–2954.
  • The Out-of-the-Delta Hypothesis: how dense human populations in low-lying deltas could have led to the evolution of a deadly pathogen (2015) Y. Boucher, F.D. Orata, M. Alam. Frontiers in Microbiology 6:1120.

Click here for full list of publications.

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