Vicky Attah
I completed my PhD with interests in the functional diversification of paralogs resulting from fungal-oomycete HGT events (in particular, the diversification of proteins with a strong functional trend towards plant carbohydrate digestion), and the significance of N-terminal signal peptide sequences for the transferability of secreted proteins by cross-phylum HGT. I am now working as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant with Professor Tom Richards and Dr Fiona Savory, developing new genetic tools for studying model systems to explore the evolution of aquatic symbiotic interactions.
Selected Publications
- Savory FR, Attah V, Kilias ES, Richards TA. Stable transformation of Micractinium conductrix SAG 241.80: new tools for exploring photosymbiotic interactions. bioRxiv (2026). https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.27.702003
- Attah V, Milner DS, Fang Y, Yan X, Leonard G, Heitman J, et al. Duplication and neofunctionalization of a horizontally transferred xyloglucanase as a facet of the Red Queen coevolutionary dynamic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218927121
- Jenkins BH, Kilias ES, Savory FR, Sørensen MES, Poirier C, Attah V, et al. Immune-like glycan-sensing and horizontally-acquired glycan-processing orchestrate host control in a microbial endosymbiosis. bioRxiv (2024). https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.14.613017
- Milner DS, Attah V, Cook E, Maguire F, Savory FR, Morrison M, et al. Environment-dependent fitness gains can be driven by horizontal gene transfer of transporter-encoding genes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815994116
- Monier A, Chambouvet A, Milner DS, Attah V, Terrado R, Lovejoy C, et al. Host-derived viral transporter protein for nitrogen uptake in infected marine phytoplankton. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1708097114
Hobbies & Interests
Climbing, board games, baking, paddle boarding. Occasional runner. Constant eater.