Molecular and Genome Biology of Microbes

Microbial genome biology is a rapidly expanding field that couples genomics and proteomics with molecular, cellular, and structural biology to understand microbial organisms. Microbes offer unique advantages for graduate training because their smaller genomes and proteomes and their diverse metabolisms can be studied comprehensively, because they are highly amenable to currently emerging methodologies, because they fundamentally impact human health, agriculture, the economy, and the environment, and because they offer unparalleled insights into the evolution of life on earth. Our group provides graduate student training in Molecular and Genome Biology of Microbes. Participating labs offer state-of-the-art training in research areas that focus on molecular, biochemical, or structural approaches to study microbial transcription, gene regulation, regulatory RNAs, DNA replication, DNA recombination and DNA repair, transposition, and other genome biology processes. The focus group provides research training in systems biology approaches to analyze the operation and interactions of microbial regulatory circuits (gene arrays, proteomics, gene network and pathway modeling, computational biology, etc.). UW-Madison is a world-renowned leader in molecular studies of microbes, and brings together researchers from many departments (e.g., Bacteriology, Biochemistry, Biomolecular Chemistry, Genetics, Engineering, and Plant Pathology).

Our focus group hosts a leading international meeting on microbial mechanisms at UW-Madison every August: “Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages“.

Headshot

Focus Group Chair Robert Landick
Biochemistry Department
Control of transcription elongation; RNA polymerase structure/function
landick@bact.wisc.edu

Focus Group Members

Margaret Alexander

Credentials: Medical Microbiology Department

Position title: Diet, microbiota, immune interactions

Email: mralexander2@wisc.edu

Daniel Amador-Noguez

Credentials: Bacteriology Department

Position title: Microbial Systems Biology

Email: amadornoguez@wisc.edu

Matthew Anderson

Credentials: Genetics

Position title: Genetic diversity of microbial systems

Email: mzanderson@wisc.edu

David Brow

Credentials: Biomolecular Chemistry Department

Position title: DNA transcription and RNA splicing in yeast

Email: dabrow@wisc.edu

Briana Burton

Credentials: Bacteriology Department

Position title: Macromolecule transport across membranes

Email: briana.burton@wisc.edu

Silvia Cavagnero

Credentials: Chemistry Department

Position title: Protein folding and aggregation in the cell, molecular chaperones, role of the ribosome in protein folding

Email: cavagnero@chem.wisc.edu

Scott Coyle

Credentials: Biochemistry Department

Position title: Understanding and engineering cell behavior.

Email: smcoyle@wisc.edu

Timothy Donohue

Credentials: Bacteriology Department

Position title: Process & control of bioenergy generation

Email: tdonohue@bact.wisc.edu

Lee Eckhardt

Credentials: Medicine Department

Position title: Functional genomics approach to understand cardiac-arrhythmia

Email: lle@medicine.wisc.edu

Catherine Fox

Credentials: Biomolecular Chemistry Department

Position title: Conservation and diversity in mechanisms that control the inheritance and expression of eukaryotic chromosomes

Email: cfox@wisc.edu

Chris Hittinger

Credentials: Genetics Department

Position title: Molecular evolution of gene networks

Email: cthittinger@wisc.edu

Andrew Hryckowian

Credentials: Medicine and Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department

Position title: Molecular mechanisms of microbiome dynamics

Email: Hryckowian@medicine.wisc.edu

Christina Hull

Credentials: Biomolecular Chemistry Department

Position title: Human fungal pathogen development & pathogenesis

Email: cmhull@wisc.edu

Mehdi Kabbage

Credentials: Plant Pathology Department

Position title: Programmed Cell Death/Host-Microbe Interactions

Email: kabbage@wisc.edu

Betul Kaçar

Credentials: Bacteriology Department

Position title: Origins and early evolution of life, ancient proteins, functional evolution over geologic time

Email: bkacar@wisc.edu

Yoshihiro Kawaoka

Credentials: Pathobiological Sciences Department

Position title: Molecular pathogenesis of influenza and Ebola viruses

Email: yoshihiro.kawaoka@wisc.edu

James Keck

Credentials: Biomolecular Chemistry Department

Position title: Structural Mechanisms of Genome Maintenance

Email: jlkeck@wisc.edu

Robert Kirchdoerfer

Credentials: Biochemistry Department

Position title: Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy of viral proteins

Email: rnkirchdoerf@wisc.edu

Bruce Klein

Credentials: Pediatrics Department

Position title: Host-fungal pathogen interactions

Email: bsklein@pediatrics.wisc.edu

Laura Knoll

Credentials: Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department

Position title: Molecular analysis of host/parasite interactions

Email: ljknoll@wisc.edu

Mark Mandel

Credentials: Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department

Position title: Genetic analysis of bacterial colonization

Email: mmandel@wisc.edu

Megan McClean

Credentials: Biomedical Engineering Department

Position title: Biological signal processing

Email: mmcclean@wisc.edu

Donna Neumann

Credentials: Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department

Position title: 3D chromatin control of DNA viruses

Email: dneumann3@wisc.edu

Aurelie Rakotondrafara

Credentials: Plant Pathology Department

Position title: RNA, translation, plant virus, IRES, viral resistance

Email: rakotondrafa@wisc.edu

Srivatsan Raman

Credentials: Biochemistry Department

Position title: Synthetic biology, protein design, metabolic engineering, allostery, directed evolution

Email: sraman4@wisc.edu

Philip Romero

Credentials: Biochemistry Department

Position title: Protein engineering

Email: promero2@wisc.edu

Wilmara Salgado Pabón

Credentials: Pathobiological Sciences Department

Position title: S. aureus enterotoxin targeting of vascular endothelium

Email: wsalgado@wisc.edu

John-Demian (JD) Sauer

Credentials: Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department

Position title: Host-pathogen interactions

Email: sauer3@wisc.edu

Nathaniel Sharp

Credentials: Genetics Department

Position title: Spontaneous mutation rate and spectrum

Email: nathaniel.sharp@wisc.edu

Vanessa Sperandio

Credentials: Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department

Position title: Chemical signaling between bacteria and host

Email: vsperandio@wisc.edu

Ophelia Venturelli

Credentials: Biochemistry Department

Position title: Systems and synthetic biology of genetic regulatory networks and microbial ecosystems

Email: venturelli@wisc.edu

Jade Wang

Credentials: Bacteriology Department

Position title: Stress and genome integrity in bacteria

Email: wang@bact.wisc.edu

Elizabeth Wright

Credentials: Biochemistry Department

Position title: Cryo-electron microscopy of biological macromolecular machines

Email: erwright2@wisc.edu

John-Paul (JP) Yu

Credentials: Radiology Department

Position title: Neuroimaging, neuropsychiatric disorders, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, systems neuroscience

Email: jpyu@uwhealth.org