Ivan Erill

Ivan Erill is a Full Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), with a joint appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He is based in the Biological Sciences Building and leads the Erill Lab, which focuses on computational and evolutionary aspects of bacterial gene regulation.

Education:

• Ph.D., Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2002
• B.S., Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 1996

His research interests bridge microbiology, bioinformatics, and evolutionary biology, with a primary focus on the evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks in bacteria. He investigates how transcription factors, their binding sites, and regulatory circuits co-evolve, particularly in the context of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation. His lab integrates evolutionary simulations, biophysical modeling, systems biology, and comparative genomics. A major contribution is the development of CollecTF, a community-oriented database for experimentally validated transcription factor-binding sites in bacteria, which he created in collaboration with groups at NCBI and EMBL-EBI.

The 15 most recent publications reflect a consistent focus on bacterial genomics, phage biology, regulatory network evolution, and biocuration. Trends include the use of comparative genomics to study stress responses (e.g., SOS system), computational modeling of gene regulation, phage genome sequencing (especially in Streptomyces and Bacillus), and contributions to ontology and data curation (e.g., ECO, CACAO). His work often combines computational predictions with experimental validation and emphasizes data sharing and community resources.

Scientific Contributions:

• Founder of the CollecTF database
• Key contributor to the Evidence and Conclusion Ontology (ECO)
• Active participant in the SEA-PHAGES and CACAO consortia
• Developer of computational tools for motif analysis and regulatory network modeling

He advises numerous students and postdoctoral researchers, many of whom are co-authors on his publications. His lab collaborates extensively, particularly with Steven M. Caruso on phage genomics and with ontology groups on biocuration. He teaches courses in bioinformatics, systems biology, microbiology, and computational biology, and has contributed to initiatives that enhance student learning through genome annotation competitions. He is actively involved in the scientific community through presentations at international conferences and ongoing collaborative research projects.

Laboratory and Collaborative Efforts: The Erill Lab operates at the intersection of computation and experiment, frequently engaging in interdisciplinary projects. It is involved in large-scale collaborative networks such as the SEA-PHAGES program, which integrates bacteriophage research into undergraduate education, and CACAO, which advances community annotation using ontologies. The lab also contributes to the development of biological databases and ontologies, working closely with major repositories to improve data standards and accessibility.