Steven R. Eichten
Divisions of Plant Sciences
ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment
Linnaeus Building (#134)
Linnaeus Way
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2601
steven.eichten@anu.edu.au
steichten@gmail.com
(+61) 0478085153
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Plant Biological Sciences (2013) - University of Minnesota
B.S. Biology with highest honors (2009) - Augsburg College
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2014 – Present
2013 – 2014
2009 – 2013
2008-2009
2008
2007-2008
HFSP Post-Doctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Justin Borevitz, The Australian National
University
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Laboratory of Nathan Springer, University of Minnesota
Graduate research assistant, Laboratory of Nathan Springer, University of Minnesota
Student Research Scientist, SarTec Corp. Anoka, MN
Student Researcher, Laboratory of Nathan Springer, University of Minnesota
Bioinformatics Summer Institute
Student Researcher, Laboratory of Mark Streffler, Augsburg College
AWARDS AND ACADEMIC HONORS
-Awarded Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Postdoctoral
Fellowship (2015-2017)
-Awarded Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) Long-Term Postdoctoral Fellowship (2014-2016)
-International, highly competitive fellowship scheme supporting frontier research in the life sciences.
-Awarded UMN Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (2012-2013)
- A university-wide competitive fellowship providing a year of funding based on academic and research merit. Selected from
~400 students across all University Graduate Schools
- Awarded Philip C. Hamm Memorial Scholarship in the Plant Sciences (Fall 2012)
- “The most prestigious award in the plant sciences at the University of Minnesota”. The award is highly competitive across
university departments. A single award is given each year.
- PBS Travel Grant – 2011 Bioinformatics Research Workshop
- Awarded UMN Plant Biology Department Phinney Graduate Fellowship (Fall 2011)
- A highly competitive fellowship providing a semester of funding based on academic and research merit. Selected from ~30
students in the graduate program
-PBS Travel Grant – 2010 Maize Genetic Conference
-Graduated Augsburg College with Biology Departmental Honors
- Requires highest academic achievement &completion of independent research project
-Graduated Augsburg College Summa Cum Laude (GPA 3.925)
-Completed Augsburg College Honors Program
-Additional advanced coursework requiring high academic performance & independent research project
-Awarded the Biology Department Fridlund scholarship for 2008
- Competitive scholarship based on academic merit. Selected from ~35 eligible students
-Sundquist Research Scholar, 2006-2008
- Competitive funding for student research at Augsburg College based on research progress and merit
-Awarded NASA Space Grant Scholarship, 2006, 2007, and 2008
-Competitive scholarship based on academic merit in the sciences
-Deans list all terms at Augsburg College
-Awarded Regents Scholarship upon enrollment to Augsburg College
- Based on academic merit. Provided ~1/3 tuition coverage for all four years of undergraduate education
PUBLICATIONS
Peer reviewed papers:
20. Eichten SR, Springer NM. 2015. Minimal evidence for consistent changes in maize DNA methylation
patterns following environmental stress. Frontiers in Plant Science. (in press).
19. Li Q, Suzuki M, Wendt J, Wendt J, Patterson N, Eichten SR, Hermanson PJ, Green D, Jeddeloh J, Richmond T,
Rosenbaum H, Burgess D, Springer NM, Greally JM. 2015. Post-conversion targeted capture of
modified cytosines in mammalian and plant genomes. Nucleic acids research. (in press).
18. Li Q, Song J, West PT, Zynda G, Eichten SR, Vaughn MW, Springer NM. 2015. Examining the causes and
consequenes of context-speific differential DNA methylation in maize. Plant Physiology. 10.1104/pp.
15.00052
17. Li Q, Eichten SR, Hermanson PJ, Zaunbrecher VM, Song J, Wendt J, Rosenbaum H, Madzima TF, Sloan AE,
Huang J, Burgess DL, Richmond TA, McGinnis KM, Meeley RB, Danilevskaya ON, Vaughn MW,
Kaeppler SM, Jeddeloh JA, Springer NM. 2014. Genetic Pertubation of the Maize Methylome. The
Plant Cell. 10.1105/tpc.114.133140
16. Hirsch CN, Flint-Garcia SA, Beissinger TM, Eichten SR, Deshpande S, Barry K, McMullen MD, Holland JB,
Buckler ES, Springer NM, Buell CR, de Leon N, Kaeppler SM. 2014. Insights into the Effects of LongTerm Artificial Selection on Seed Size in Maize. Genetics. 10.1534/genetics.114.167155
15. West P, Li Q, Lexiang J, Eichten SR, Song J, Vaughn MW, Schmitz RJ, Springer NM. 2014. Genomic
distribution of H3K9me2 and DNA methylation in a maize genome. PLoS ONE.
10.1371/journal.pone.0105267
14. Stelpflug SC, Eichten SR, Hermanson OJ, Springer NM, Kaeppler SM. 2014. Consistent and Heritable
Alterations of DNA Methylation Are Induced by Tissue Culture in Maize. Genetics.
10.1534/genetics.114.165480
13. Li L, Eichten SR, Shimizu R, Petsch K, Yeh C, Wu W, Chettoor AM, Givan SA, Cole RA, Fowler JE, Evans MS,
Scanlon MJ, Yu J, Schnable PS, Timmermans M, Springer NM, Muehlbauer GJ. 2014. Genome-wide
discovery and characterization of maize long non-coding RNAs. Genome Biology. 10.1186/gb-201415-2-r40
12. Li Q, Eichten SR, Hermanson PJ, Springer NM. 2013. Inheritance Patterns and Stability of DNA Methylation
Variation in Maize Near-Isogenic Lines. Genetics 10.1534/genetics.113.158980
11. Waters AJ, Billinski P, Eichten SR, Vaughn MV, Ross-Ibarra J, Gehring M, Springer NM. 2013.
Comprehensive analysis of imprinted genes in maize reveals allelic variation for imprinting and
limited conservation with other species. PNAS. 10.1073/pnas.1309182110
10. Eichten SR, Briskine R, Song J, Li Q, Swanson-Wagner R, Hermanson PJ, Waters AJ, Starr E, West PT, Tiffin
P, Myers CL, Vaughn MW, Springer NM. 2013. Epigenetic and genetic influences on DNA methylation
variation in maize populations. The Plant Cell. 10.1105/tpc.113.114793
9. Munoz-Amatriain, Eichten SR, Wicker T, Richmond TA, Mascher M, Steuernagel B, Scholz U, Ariyadasa R,
Spannagl M, Nussbaumer T, Mayer K, Taudien S, Platzer M, Jeddeloh JA, Springer NM, Muehlbauer GJ,
Stein N. 2013. Distribution, functional impact and origin mechanisms of copy number variation in the
barley genome. Genome Biology. 10.1186/gb-2013-14-6-r58
8. Makarevitch I, Eichten SR, Briskine R, Waters AJ, Danilevskaya ON, Meeley RB, Myers CL, Vaughn MW,
Springer NM. 2013. Genomic Distribution of Maize Facultative Heterochromatin Marked by
Trimethylation of H3K27. The Plant Cell. 10.1105/tpc.112.106427
7. Eichten SR, Ellis NA, Makarevitch I, Yeh C, Gent J, Guo L, McGinnis KM, Zhang X, Schnable PS, Vaughn MW,
Dawe RK, Springer NM. 2012. Spreading of Heterochromatin is Limited to Specific Families of Maize
Retrotransposons. PLoS Genet. 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003127
6. Eichten SR, Vaughn M, Hermanson P, Springer NM. 2012. Variation In DNA Methylation Patterns is More
Common among Maize Inbreds than among Tissues. Plant Genome.
10.3835/plantgenome2012.06.0009
5. Waters AJ*, Makarevitch I*, Eichten SR*, Swanson-Wagner RA, Yeh C, Xu W, Schnable P, Vaughn M, Gehring
M, Springer NM. 2011. Parent-of-Origin Effects on Gene Expression and DNA Methylation in the
Maize Endosperm. The Plant Cell. 10.1105/tpc.111.092668 *Authors contributed equally to this publication
4. Eichten SR*, Swanson-Wagner RA*, Schnable J, Waters A, Hermanson P, Liu S, Yeh C, Jia Y, Gendler K,
Freeling M, Schnable P, Vaughn M, Springer NM. 2011. Heritable epigenetic variation among maize
inbreds. PLoS Genet. 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002372 *Authors contributed equally to this publication
3. Eichten SR, Foerster J, de Leon N, Kai Y, Yeh C, Liu S, Jeddeloh J, Schnable P, Kaeppler S, Springer N. 2011.
B73-Mo17 near-isogenic lines demonstrate dispersed structural variation in maize. Plant Physiology.
10.1104/pp.111.174748
2. Swanson-Wagner RA*, Eichten SR*, Kumari S, Tiffin P, Stein JC, Ware D, Springer NM. 2010. Pervasive gene
content variation and copy number variation in both maize and its undomesticated progenitor.
Genome Research. 10.1101/gr.109165.110 *Authors contributed equally to this publication
1. Springer NM, Eichten SR, Smith A, Papa CM, Steinway S, Kaeppler SM. 2009.
Characterization of a novel maize retrotransposon family SPRITE that shows high levels of variability
among maize inbred lines. Maydica 54: 417-428.
Commentaries & Reviews:
2. Eichten SR, Schmitz RJ, Springer NM. 2014. Epigenetics: Beyond Chromatin Modifications and Complex
Genetic Regulation. Plant Physiology. 10.1104/pp.113.234211
1. Eichten SR & Borevitz J. 2013. Methylation’s Mark on Inheritance. Nature. 10.1038/nature11960
INVITED TALKS
2015 – CSIRO Epigenetic Regulation, Gene expression, and Crop improvement “Adaptation via the
‘extended genotype’: DNA methylome diversity, genetics, and the importance of ‘epigenetics’”
2014 – CSHA: Evolutionary Genetics & Genomics “Adaptation via the ‘extended genotype’: DNA
methylome variation across low diversity populations of Brachypodium distachyon”
2014 – COMBIO 2014 “Identification and classification of DNA methylation variation across maize”
2014 – ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology Retreat “Beyond Genes: How the ‘extended
genotype’ facilitates plant adaptation”
2014 – ANU Plant Science Seminar “Identification and classification of DNA methylation variation: one
part of the ‘extended genotype”
2012 – PBS Graduate Student Orientation “Epigenetic Variation within Maize: Beyond the Genome”
2012 – 54th Maize Genetics Conference, “Epigenetic variation among maize inbreds highlights complex
genetic and transcriptional interactions”
- Selected as one of six graduate students invited to talk from 85 applicants
2012 – Plant Animal Genome XX, “Contribution of Epigenetic Variation to Expression Changes Among
Tissues and Genotypes”
2011 – PBS Thesis Seminar, “Identification of Non Conditioned Epigenetic Variation in Maize”
2010 – PBS Annual Retreat, “Exploring Genomic Structural Variation Across
Maize and Teosinte Populations”
- Only first-year graduate student to give talk at program retreat
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
2014 – ASPB Plant Biology 2014, “Adaptation via the 'Extended Genotype' - DNA methylome variation
among low diversity populations of Brachypodium distachyon”
2013 – 55th Maize Genetics Conference, “Genetic and Epigenetic Control of DNA Methylation Variation
in Maize”
2013 – Plant Animal Genome XXI, “Genetic and Epigenetic Control of DNA Methylation Variation in
Maize”
2012 – BASF Research Forum, “Heritable epigenetic variation among maize inbreds”
2012 – Plant Animal Genome XX, “Heritable epigenetic variation among maize inbreds”
2011 – American Society of Plant Biologists, “Heritable epigenetic variation among maize inbreds”
2011 – 53rd Maize Genetics Conference, “Variation in Genome-Wide
Methylation Patterns among Maize Inbreds”
2011 – 53rd Maize Genetics Conference, “High Resolution Mapping of B73Mo17 Near Isogenic Lines”
2010 – 52nd Maize Genetics Conference, “Exploring the Relationships of Copy
Number Variation between Maize Lines”
2009 – Augsburg Undergraduate Research Symposium, “Determination of
the Most Efficient Light Intensity for Algal Growth’
2008 – Augsburg Undergraduate Research Symposium, “Custom Fabrication
of LED Light Arrays for Plant Growth Studies”
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Australian National University:
2015 – Co-Convener; Genomics and its Applications (BIOL3161)
2014 – Guest Lecturer; Genomics and its Applications (BIOL3161)
University of Minnesota:
2013 – Guest Lecturer; Chromosome Biology(AGRO8241)
2010 – TA; Foundations of Biology Lab (BIO2002L)
SCIENTIFIC OUTREACH
- Member ASPS (2014-present)
Student representative on College of Biological Sciences faculty cluster hiring – Genome variation cluster
(2012)
- PBS Graduate Program incoming student Mentor (2012)
- PBS Colloquium Seminar Committee (2011-2012)
- Member AAAS (2010-present)
- Member ASPB (2011-present)
- Member of environmental task force - Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) 2007-2009
- Vice-President of Augsburg Tri-Beta chapter (2008-2009)
- Member of Augsburg Tri-Beta chapter (2006-2009)
- Member of Augsburg Society of Physics Students (2008-2009)
- Member of Environmental Stewardship committee (2008-2009)
- Founding member of Augsburg Green Vehicle Initiative (2009)
- Founding member of Augsburg Biology Department journal club (2009)
- Volunteer Tutoring for Biology underclassmen (2007-2009)