Featured Woman in STEM: Houra Merrikh

Dr. Houra Merrikh is an Iranian-American microbiologist who overcame adversity to become a leading scientist. As a Biochemistry professor at Vanderbilt University, she and her team work to overcome the serious problem of antibiotic resistance.

Photo credit: Eurekalert, a publication of the american Association for the advancement of science

Early Life

Houra Merrikh was born in Tehran, but was raised in Turkey after she and her family fled Iran to escape the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. At age 16, she moved to Texas—all on her own—to continue her education.

Education and Career Path

Many of us would have been stopped dead in our tracks, if faced with the unfamiliarity and scariness of surviving a war, immigrating halfway across the world, and acclimating to an entirely new culture and language during our formative teenage years…but Houra’s bright mind, love of problem solving, and eclectic background and experience helped her to overcome these difficulties and become a successful microbiologist!

After attending community college in Texas, she enrolled at the University of Houston and later Boston University. She earned a Master’s degree from Brandeis University in 2006, and a Ph.D. in 2009. From 2009 to 2011, she was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In 2009, she was appointed Assistant Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Health and Sciences at the University of Washington. In 2015, she discovered that a bacterial protein called Mutation Frequency Decline (Mfd) quickens the bacterial mutation process. In January 2019, Dr. Merrikh was appointed full Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University.

(image credit: university of washington; photo by peter hurley)

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A STEM Leader and Role Model

The goal of Dr. Merrikh’s research is to find ways to slow the rate of bacterial mutations and block their evolution, to help overcome the threat of antibacterial-resistant germs. Hear more about her work, her personal journey, and why she loves being a scientist, in this video produced by the Vilcek Foundation:

Houra Merrikh is a recipient of the 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. Houra Merrikh’s work on the mechanics of DNA replication and gene expression in cells has uncovered hidden conflicts between the cellular machines that use threads of DNA as a template to carry out these life-sustaining functions. Houra has shown that such conflicts can lead to genetic mutations, which can serve as a substrate for evolution. More importantly, such mutations may underlie a raft of clinically relevant phenomena, such as the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and the onset of cancer in human cells. By unraveling the mechanism of the conflicts, which appear to be a common feature among genes, Houra's work has thrown open a window on the molecular minutiae of gene evolution. She is now exploring precise ways to predict how such conflicts influence human disease. Houra is an assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and was born in Tehran, Iran. For more information about Houra Merrikh and the Vilcek Prizes, please visit https://vilcek.org/prizes/ Director and Videographer: THEY bklyn Executive Producer: The Vilcek Foundation GFX and Animation: Nice Soft T-Shirt Editor: Nicole Turney Additional Editor: Samin Pogoff Sound and Music: Casey Holford Color: Colin Travers Special thanks to Houra Merrikh, Chris Merrikh, and the University of Washington.

Finally, read this in-depth interview from HuffPost for many more details, including how she has learned and benefitted from her multi-cultural upbringing. Our favorite take-away:

It’s an incredible privilege to be exposed to more than one culture. I feel it gives people additional depth and a multi-dimensional way of thinking. I have been lucky to have three cultures and languages (Iranian, Turkish, and American) in my life.

Iranian culture puts a lot of emphasis on intellectual growth and education, especially when it comes to women. It is also a very warm culture that teaches us to build trust, close friendships, and to be hospitable…What I have learned from American culture is also invaluable. I have learned the value of equality and opportunity for people of all backgrounds. I have seen the importance of freedom to think differently and then to be able to implement new ideas. And importantly, by providing the necessary opportunities, the American system facilitates growth and creativity.

I consider my success in science and life in general to be a product of the marriage between Iranian and American cultures.