Ousmane H. Cissé, PharmD, PhD

PhD, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, VAUD Switzerland
PharmD, University of Bamako, Bamako, Mali

Dr. Cissé received his degree in Pharmacy from the University of Bamako, his master in science in genomics and experimental biology, and Ph.D in life sciences from the University of Lausanne. He completed post-doc training fellowships at the University of California Riverside and the NIH Clinical Center.

Dr. Cissé is currently a Staff Scientist in the Critical Care Medicine Department at the NIH Clinical Center. In 2021, he was awarded the honorific title of Associate Scientist at the NIH Clinical Center in recognition of his accomplishments and senior level research support. He serves as Editor for the journal mBio and Journal of Clinical Microbiology, and was recently appointed Guest Editor for the Journal of Fungi.

Dr. Cissé’s research interest lies at the intersection of evolution and mycology in that he asks questions about how fungi emerge and change over time to cause diseases. In doing this, he integrates studies of genetic variation, cell biology, and molecular aspects of the microbes. He mainly focuses on Pneumocystis fungi because their unique ability to infect people provides a unique backdrop for exploring the interplay between evolution and immune systems across a wide range of mammals and temporal scales. Dr. Cissé’s work has applications in the discovery of drug and vaccine targets as well as in epidemiology for inter human transmission.

• Associate Scientist, 2021
• Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc mobility award, 2013 – 2015

Cissé OH, Ma L, Dekker JP, Khil PP, Youn JH, Brenchley JM, Blair R, Pahar B, Chabé M, Van Rompay KKA, Keesler R, Sukura A, Hirsch V, Kutty G, Liu Y, Peng L, Chen J, Song J, Weissenbacher-Lang C, Xu J, Upham NS, Stajich JE, Cuomo CA, Cushion MT, Kovacs JA.. (2021). Genomic insights into the host specific adaptation of the Pneumocystis genus. Commun Biol 4, 305.

Cissé OH, Ma L, Wei Huang D, Khil PP, Dekker JP, Kutty G, Bishop L, Liu Y, Deng X, Hauser PM, Pagni M, Hirsch V, Lempicki RA, Stajich JE, Cuomo CA, Kovacs JA. (2018). Comparative population genomics analysis of the mammalian fungal pathogen Pneumocystis. mBio 9:e00381-18.

Nguyen TA*, Cissé OH*, Yun Wong J, Zheng P, Hewitt D, Nowrousian M, Stajich JE, Jedd G. l. (2017). Innovation and constraint leading to complex multicellularity in the Ascomycota. Nature Communications 8: 14444.

Cissé OH, Almeida JM, Fonseca A, Kumar AA, Salojärvi J, Overmyer K, Hauser PM, Pagni M.. (2013). Genome sequencing of the plant pathogen Taphrina deformans, the causal agent of peach leaf curl. mBio 4: e00055-00013.

Cissé OH, Pagni M, Hauser PM. (2012). De novo assembly of the Pneumocystis Jirovecii genome from a single bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimen from a patient. mBio 4: e00428-00412.

Visit PubMed.gov for a full list of Dr. Cissé’s publications.

*Equal 1st author contribution.