Jozef Nissimov

Research in the Nissimov Lab (the Environmental Virology and Ecology Research Group) focuses on studying the biotic and abiotic factors that affect the dynamic interactions between ecologically important algal and cyanobacterial hosts and their viruses, and their co-evolutionary relationships, in order to elucidate the impact of these dynamics and relationships on natural habitats such as lakes and the ocean. This is achieved through laboratory experimentation and field studies, in which the Nissimov Lab employs cutting-edge molecular biology and microbiology technologies, which include next-generation sequencing, flow cam imaging, analytical flow cytometry, and state-of-the-art photobioreactors and growth chambers for experimental modeling.

The Nissimov Lab also investigates the largely unexplored antiviral potential of bioactive compounds from cyanobacteria and collaborates on the development of novel sequencing approaches and computational tools for studying SARS-CoV-2 and agricultural viruses in wastewater.

• Virus Ecology

• Environmental Microbiology

• Limnology

• Marine Biology

• Biological Oceanography

• Microalgae

• Cyanobacteria

• Algal Blooms

• Aquatic Viruses

• Microbial Host-Virus Interactions

• Comparative Genomics of Aquatic Viruses

• Virus Community Sequencing and Analysis

• Bioinformatics

• Antimicrobial Discovery

• 2018 Postdoctoral Fellow, Rutgers University, United States

• 2013 Ph.D. Biosciences, Plymouth Marine Laboratory & University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

• 2009 M.Res. Marine Biology, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom

• 2008 B.Sc. Marine Biology (honours), University of Plymouth, United Kingdom

• 2022 Exceptional Service as an ECR Director, Canadian Society for Virology

• 2021 Norma J. Lang Early Career Research Fellowship, Phycological Society of America

• Editorial Board Member, Viruses

• Reviewer for PNAS, PlosOne, The ISME Journal, Environmental Microbiology, FEMS Microbiology, Research in Microbiology, Journal of Plankton Research, Virologica Sinica, Virus Genes, Genes, Deep Sea Research Part I, Frontiers in Marine Science, and Scientific Reports

• International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)- Phycodnaviridae Working Group Member

• UW’s Trust in Research Undertaking in Science and Technology Scholarly Network (TRuST), Working Group Member

• UW’s Faculty Committee on Student Appeals (FCSA), Faculty Committee Member

• UW’s Faculty of Science Foundation, Faculty Director (Biology)

• Phycological Society of America

• The International Society for Viruses of Microorganisms (ISVM)

• Canadian Society for Virology

• Phage Canada

• Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3)

• Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (WCMR)

• Water Institute

• BIOL 241 - Introduction to Applied Microbiology
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2024
• BIOL 442 - Virology
  • Taught in 2022, 2024, 2025
• BIOL 450 - Marine Biology
  • Taught in 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Meza-Padilla, I., McConkey, B.J. and Nissimov, J.I., 2024. Structural models predict a significantly higher binding affinity between the NblA protein of cyanophage Ma-LMM01 and the phycocyanin of Microcystis aeruginosa NIES-298 compared to the host homolog. bioRxiv, pp.2024-07.

• Zheng, S., Lee, V., Meza‐Padilla, I. and Nissimov, J.I., 2024. Antiviral discovery in toxic cyanobacteria: Low hanging fruit in the age of pandemics. Journal of Phycology, 60(2), pp.574-580.

• Nash, D., Ellmen, I., Knapp, J.J., Menon, R., Overton, A.K., Cheng, J., Lynch, M.D., Nissimov, J.I. and Charles, T.C., 2024. A novel tiled amplicon sequencing assay targeting the tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) genome reveals widespread distribution in municipal wastewater treatment systems in the province of Ontario, Canada. Viruses, 16(3), p.460.

• Lobb, B., Shapter, A., Doxey, A.C. and Nissimov, J.I., 2023. Functional Profiling and Evolutionary Analysis of a Marine Microalgal Virus Pangenome. Viruses, 15(5), p.1116.

• Nissimov, J.I., Campbell, C.N., Probert, I. and Wilson, W.H., 2022. Aquatic virus culture collection: an absent (but necessary) safety net for environmental microbiologists. Applied Phycology, 3(1), pp.211-225.

• Please see Dr. Nissimov’s Google Scholar profile for a complete list of his published articles: https://scholar.google.bg/citations?user=gdwUR1YAAAAJ&hl=en

• August 16, 2020 “New video game takes aim at COVID-19 misinformation” CBC News
• August 10, 2020 “UW student creates video game to fight COVID-19 misinformation” The Record