UW-Madison Dept of Bacteriology

Research

The Department of Bacteriology provides a foundation in basic research which supports the entire campus microbiological community. The research programs within the Department of Bacteriology enjoy excellent support (over $6 million external funds in 2007). The historical focus has been, and will continue to be in procaryotic biology but the department is expanding its perspective by bringing in immunology and lower eucaryotic biology. The yearly Kenneth Raper Symposium, sponsored by the department, is the premier microbiology research symposium in the State, and serves to highlight the accomplishments of the Wisconsin microbiology community. It has long been departmental philosophy to encompass diverse research areas and topics within procaryotic biology rather than to concentrate our research efforts in a few specific areas. Currently, there are 22 faculty members with primary appointments in the Department of Bacteriology. In addition there are three USDA faculty whose university appointment is in Bacteriology but whose primary appointment is in a USDA research facility such as the Forest Products Laboratory or the Dairy Forage Research Center.

Our current research strengths include the following:

Bioenergy: Microbes are important for degrading complex molecules to provide biofuels (e.g. ethanol) and for processes that convert sunlight into useable biofuels or biomass.

  • Timothy Donohue - Bacterial renewable energy generation
  • Kenneth Hammel - Lignocellulose biodegradation
  • Thomas Jeffries - Bioconversion of renewable resources; metabolic engineering of pentose fermenting yeasts
  • Paul Weimer - Rumen microbiology; anaerobic metabolism; biopolymer degradation

Microbial metabolism and physiology: Understanding the basics of how microbes work helps us reprogram them to be useful to us and also help us understand how our cells work.

  • Glenn Chambliss - Global regulatory controls in gram-positive bacteria and microbial degradation of energetic compounds
  • Diana Downs - Metabolic regulation and pathway integration
  • Jorge Escalante-Semerena - Genetics and biochemistry of anaerobic metabolism
  • William McClain - tRNA structure and function
  • Gary Roberts - Genetics and biochemistry of nitrogen fixation and carbon monoxide oxidation

Microbial Eukaryotes: Some microbes are eukaryotes, the group of organisms that includes plants and animals. Microbial eukaryotes are important for industry, food, and biotechnology. Some of them also cause disease.

  • Stephen Barclay - Developmental microbiology of Dictyostelium, Pneumocystis, and Cryptosporidium
  • John Mansfield - Immunology and molecular biology of infectious disease
  • Jae-Hyuk Yu - Fungi and Mycotoxins: molecular genetics of asexual sporulation and mycotoxin biosynthesis in filamentous fungi

Antibiotics and natural products: Microbes produce many of the antibiotics that we use clinically to treat disease.

  • Jerald Ensign - Developmental microbiology of actinomycetes; microbial insecticides; bacteria-nematode symbiosis
  • Marcin Filutowicz - "Reproductive cycle" and biology of plasmids, anti-microbial agents, bio-therapeutics
  • Michael Thomas - Biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of secondary metabolites

Pathogenesis and symbiosis: Microbes can cause disease (pathogens) but they can also live together in harmony with other organisms (symbiosis).

  • Cameron Currie - Evolutionary ecology of the attine ant-microbe quadripartite symbiosis
  • Katrina Forest - Structural biology of pathogenesis
  • Heidi Goodrich-Blair - Molecular mechanisms of bacteria-nematode-insect symbiosis
  • Jo Handelsman - Bacterial diversity; metagenomics; community robustness; antibiotics and chemical signals

Microbial Gene Regulation: By understanding how microbes change which genes are expressed at which time, we can use them to produce useful products and to help understand how human genes are controlled.

  • Richard Gourse - Prokaryotic transcription; regulation of ribosome synthesis
  • Robert Landick - Transcriptional regulation; RNA polymerase structure and function
  • Karen Wassarman - Small RNAs in bacteria

Food Safety and food toxins: Microbes play an important role in food production (fermented foods) but they can also be unwanted visitors in our food, producing toxins and spoiling the food.

  • Eric Johnson - Clostridium botulinum and its toxins; food and industrial microbiology
  • Charles Kaspar - Acidophiles; microbial ecology; host-pathogen interactions; antibiotic resistance
  • Amy Wong - Identification, characterization and detection of enterotoxins of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus

Our faculty members are active in national scientific societies, serve as members of study sections of granting agencies, and are on editorial boards of scientific journals. The faculty have been recognized for their achievements through many awards and memberships in prestigious societies such as the American Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology. Recent awards include:

  • 1990 - William H. McClain - Named Professorship - Harlyn O. Halvorson Professor of Bacteriology and Molecular Biology
  • 1990 - Carol Gross - Named Professorship - Fred-Bascom Professorship
  • 1992 - Thomas Brock - Pasteur Award - ASM
  • 1992 - T. Kent Kirk - Fellowship - American Academy of Microbiology
  • 1993 - Tim Donohue - CALS Pound Research Award
  • 1993 - Diana Downs - Shaw Scientist Award
  • 1993 - Marsha Betley - NIH Research Career Development Award
  • 1994 - William McClain - American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • 1999 - Diana Downs CALS Pound Research Award
  • 2000 - Diana Downs - 21st Century Scientist Award for Complex Systems Analysis
  • 2000 - Gary Roberts - UW-Madison Vilas Associate
  • 2000 - Timothy Donohue and Jorge Escalante-Semerena - American Academy of Microbiology Fellows
  • 2001 - Katrina Forest - Keck Foundation Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Award
  • 2001 - Jorge Escalante-Semerena - Named Professorship - Ira K. Baldwin Professor of Bacteriology
  • 2003 - Katrina Forest - CALS Pound Research Award
  • 2003 - Richard Gourse - American Academy of Microbiology Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow
  • 2006 - Heidi Goodrich-Blair - CALS Pound Research Award
  • 2007 - Richard Gourse - NIH Merit Award
  • 2008 – Jo Handelsman - American Society for Microbiology Roche Diagnostics Alice C. Evans Award

The Department of Bacteriology is an excellent place to do research. There is a very collegial and stimulating atmosphere with much sharing of equipment and expertise. We have been successful in attracting and recruiting excellent faculty and graduate students. The diversity of research areas provides a broad perspective that adds excitement to the research atmosphere. Microbiology at Madison has long been known as one of the best centers of excellence in the world.