Curriculum Vitae
Education and Training
9/1970-6/1974 University of Delaware, B.A., Biology
9/1974-8/1979 Brandeis University, Ph.D., Biochemistry. Thesis advisor: Dr. William P. Jencks.
1979-1982 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford, University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305 (with Dr. I. R. Lehman).
Professional Employment
1983-1987 Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
1987-1992 Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
1992-present Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
8/1993-present Assistant Chair, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
Current Research Activity
Homologous genetic recombination evolved as a path for the repair of stalled or collapsed replication forks. Multiple processes (replication, repair, recombination, transcription, DNA packaging) all use DNA as a substrate, and all must be accommodated. Our research is mainly focused on the intersection between recombination and replication, with a focus on DNA recombination mechanisms and how they contribute to DNA metabolism. Present work is focused on the bacterial RecA protein, as well as proteins that regulate RecA function, including RecF, RecO, RecR, RecX, DinI, RarA, Uup, and RadD proteins. We are also interested in genetic modification of RecA to render it more proficient at recombination in vivo. RecA proteins with enhanced function are often barriers to replication, allowing us to explore how RecA filaments are accommodated on a chromosome during active replication. Another related effort is a study of genome reconstitution after severe radiation damage in the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans. A final focus is rapid evolution, with emphasis on the development of radiation-resistant variants of Escherichia coli.
Fellowships and Awards
9/1979-9/1981 American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
9/1981-9/1982 Bank of America-Giannini Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
7/1983-6/1988 Shaw Fellowship (research award) awarded by the Milwaukee Foundation
7/1984-6/1989 National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award
9/1984-9/1986 March of Dimes-Basil O'Connor Starter Research Grant (research award)
1986-1991 Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
1989 Eli Lilly Award sponsored by the American Chemical Society, Division of Biological Chemistry
1989 Romnes Faculty Fellowship
1994 Spitzer Teaching Award, University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
1998 Vilas Associate Award, University of Wisconsin Graduate School
2000 WARF Kellett Mid-Career Faculty Research Award
2009 University of Wisconsin Regents' Teaching Excellence Award
2011 Elected American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow
2013-2023 Evelyn M. Mercer Professor in Biochemistry
2018 5th Annual Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, University of Wisconsin College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
National/International Service (excluding routine paper/grant review)
2/1988, 6/1990, 2/2002, 6/2003, 10/2005, 2/2006, 10/2007 NIH Microbial Genetics Study Section (Ad hoc)
7/1/1991-1/31/1997 Assistant Editor, Journal of Biological Chemistry
7/1992 NIH Special Review Committee Site Visit Review
1/1993-6/1995 NIH Microbial Physiology and Genetics Study Section
1998-2001 Council Member, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
1997-present Chief Advisor in development of the Encyclopedia of Life Sciences/Online Encyclopedia, Nature Publishing Group, UK (launched 2001)
1999-2004 Assistant Editor, Journal of Biological Chemistry
2001 (November) Organizing Committee, National Academy of Sciences Symposium on Relationships between Replication and Recombination, Irvine, CA
2002 Meeting co-chair, Nucleic Acids Gordon Conference
2002-present Editor, Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2002-2005 Member, U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2004-2006 Vice chair, U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (USNC/IUBMB)
2005-present Editorial Board, BioMed Central Microbiology
2006 Meeting co-chair, Nucleic Acids Keystone Symposium
2006-present Advisor, FASEB “Educating About Evolution” Subcommittee
2007 Meeting Co-chair, FASEB Summer Research Conference
2007-2010 AAAS Council Delegate, Section on Biological Sciences
3/2008 Visiting Professor, University of Paris Sud, Orsay, France
2009 Meeting Chair, FASEB Summer Research Conference
2011 Subsection Editor, Encyclopedia of Molecular Life Sciences
1/2011-12/2015 Editorial Board, Journal of Bacteriology
7/2012 NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Panel
6/2014 NIH Fellowships: Genes, Genomes and Genetics Study Section
2015 NIH Cancer Etiology Study Section (ad hoc)
2/2017 NIH Prokaryotic Cell and Molecular Biology Study Section (PCMB) (ad hoc)
7/2017 NASA Research and Education Support Services (NRESS), TRI Radiation Resistance Panel Review Meeting
6/2017, 6/2018, 6/2019-6/2023 NIH Prokaryotic Cell and Molecular Biology Study Section (PCMB)
11/2015, 3/2019 NIH, NIGMS, MIRA Review Panel
Major Departmental Service (routine committee work excluded)
1986 - present, Chair, departmental space and remodeling committee
1992 - present, Chair, new buildings committee. Oversaw design and construction of 1998 building (200,000 GSF) and 2011 project (multiple buildings; 250,000 GSF). Many smaller projects.
1993 - present, Assistant Chair, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
Patents
2000 Michael M. Cox, Elizabeth Wood, Li-chun Huang. Chromosomal targeting in bacteria using FLP recombinase. U.S. Patent Number 6,140,129
2007 Michael M. Cox, Dennis R. Harris, Sergei V. Saveliev, Julie M. Eggington, John R. Battista, Edmond Joivet, Masashi Tanaka. Method to protect DNA Ends. U.S. Patent Number 7,211,393
2007 Michael M. Cox, Shelley Lusetti, Aimee Eggler, and Nami Haruta. RecA Mutants. U.S. Patent Number 7,176,007
2010 Michael M. Cox, Michael M. Cox, John R. Battista, Audrey J. Klingele, Joseph R. Piechura. Method for DNA Double-Strand Break Repair In Vitro and Applications Thereof. USPTO 20100317009
2012 Michael M. Cox, Marielle C. Eichhern-Gruenig, James L. Keck. Method for using Ref protein as a targeted RecA-dependent nuclease. USPTO # 20120088276; US Patent Application No. 13/208,985
2017 Michael M. Cox, Angela Manlick, Tayla Olsen. REF nuclease for site-specific REF-medicated DNA cleavage. U.S. Patent Number 9,611,470.
Current Students and Postdocs
Alumni
Current Teaching Responsibilities
Biochemistry 507, fall semester (undergraduate survey course; 150+ students)
Biochemistry 907, spring seminar course
Biochemistry 612, fall semester, 2 lectures
Biochemistry 701, fall semester
Invited Seminars
Airlie House Recombination Meeting, VA, November 1983
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, April 1984
Cold Spring Harbor Symposium, NY, June 1984 (2 presentations)
Michigan State University, December 1984
Upjohn Corporation, Kalamazoo, MI, December 1984
DuPont Inc. Experimental Station, Wilmington, DE, December 1984
University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, March 1985
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, March 1985
Yeast Recombination Meeting, Cold Spring Harbor, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, March 1986
UCLA Symposium on Replication and Recombination, Park City, UT, March 1986
Meeting on "Extrachromosomal Elements in Lower Eukaryotes," Urbana, IL, June 1986
FASEB Recombination Meeting, VT, July 1986
University of Delaware, September 1986
Johns Hopkins University, September 1986
FASEB Recombinational Meeting, Copper Mountain, CO, July 1987
Harvard University, Boston, MA, March 1988
Cornell University Medical School, New York, NY, March 1988
Cold Spring Harbor Recombination Meeting, NY, September 1988
University of South Dakota, December 1988
Enzyme Mechanisms Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, January 1989
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, March 1989
UCLA Symposium on Replication and Recombination, Keystone, CO, March 1989
ACS Meeting (Lilly Award Presentation), Dallas, TX, April 1989
Gordon Conference, New London, NH, June 1989
FASEB Recombination Meeting, Copper Mountain, CO, July 1989 (Session Chair)
Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, September 1989
Mathematical Approaches to DNA, Santa Fe, NM, January 1990
Recombination and Repair, Cologne, Federal Republic of Germany, March 1990
University of California-Berkeley and Stanford University, Berkeley and Stanford, CA, March 1990
NCI Training Grant Seminar Series, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, March 1990
Workshop on Site-Specific Recombination and Transposition, Woods Hole, MA, September 1990
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, February 1991
FASEB Recombination Meeting, Saxtons River, VT, July-August 1991
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, September 1991
International Conference on Genome Plasticity, Cancun, Mexico, December 1991
UCLA Symposium on Molecular Mechanisms in DNA Replication & Recombination, Taos, NM, January-February 1992
DNA-Protein Complexes: Structures and Functions, Austin, TX, April 1992
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, May 1992
Biopolymers Gordon Research Conference, Newport, RI, June 1992
2nd Site-specific Recombination and Transposition Workshop, Berlin, Germany, September 1992
Midwest Yeast Club, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, November 1992
Midwest Prokaryotic Molecular Genetics and Physiology Club, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI,
September 1993
University of Minnesota, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroanatomy, Minneapolis, MN, March 1994
EMBO Workshop on Genetic Recombination, Seillac, France, June 1994
University of Wyoming, Department of Molecular Biology, Laramie, WY, October 1994
The I. Robert Lehman Symposium, Sonoma, CA, November 1994
FASEB Ciliate Molecular Biology Meeting, Copper Mountain, CO, July 1995
FASEB Genetic Recombination and Genome Rearrangements Meeting, Snowmass Mountain, CO, August 1995
KEYSTONE Mechanisms of Site-Specific Recombination and Transposition, Taos, NM, February 1996 (Session Chair)
University of Delaware Spring Seminar, Newark, DE, March 1996
EMBO Workshop on Genetic Recombination, Seillac, France, May 1996
ASBMB Satellite Meeting on DNA Repair, New Orleans, LA, June 1996 (Session Chair)
The Bill Jencks Symposium, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, July 1996
Workshop on Site-Specific Recombination and Transposition, Woods Hole, MA, September 1996
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, December 1996
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, January 1997
FASEB Ciliate Molecular Biology, Copper Mountain, CO, July 1997
FASEB Genetic Recombination and Chromosome Rearrangements, Snowmass Mountain, CO, August 1997
Programed Gene Rearrangement: Site-Specific Recombination, Madrid, Spain, October 1997
Duke University Seminar, Durham, NC, May 1998
International Congress of Genetics, Beijing, China, August 1998
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, August 1998
KEYSTONE Molecular Mechanisms in DNA Replication and Recombination, Taos, NM, February 1999
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, February 1999
Mechanisms of Homologous Recombination and Genetic Rearrangements, Madrid, Spain, April 1999
Texas A&M University, Houston, TX, May 1999
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, June 1999
FASEB Genetic Recombination and Genome Rearrangements, Snowmass, CO, August 1999
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, March 2000
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, April 2000
Nucleic Acids Gordon Conference, Newport, RI, June 2000
National Academy of Sciences Conference on Relationships between Replication and Recombination, Irvine, CA,
November 2000 (Meeting Co-organizer)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, November 2000
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX, December 2000
KEYSTONE Bacterial Chromosomes, Santa Fe, NM, February 2001
University of Illinois-Champagne Urbana, IL, March 2001
Programmed Gene Rearrangement: Site Specific Recombination, Madrid, Spain, April 2001
Nucleic Acids Gordon Conference, Newport, RI, June 2001 (Meeting Vice-chair)
Yale University, New Haven, CT, November 2001
KEYSTONE The Interaction of Replication and Recombination, Snowbird, UT, January 2002
Nucleic Acids Gordon Conference, Newport, RI, June 2002 (Meeting Co-Chair)
Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis Gordon Conference, Ventura, CA, March 2002
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, April 2002
Nucleic Acids Gordon Conference, Bristol, RI, June 2002 (Meeting Co-Chair)
University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, April 2003
FASEB Genetic Recombination and Chromosomal Rearrangements, Snowmass, CO, July 2003
Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis Gordon Conference, Ventura, CA, March 2004
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NB, April 2004
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, May 2004
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, September 2004
University of Texas, Austin, TX, November 2004
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, November 2004
NIH, Bethesda, MD, November 2004
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, December 2004
Brandeis University, Kaplan Lecture, Waltham, MA, April 2005
ASBMB 2005 Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2005 (Session Chair)
KEYSTONE Nucleic Acid Enzymes, Taos, NM, February 2006 (Meeting Chair)
EMBO Workshop on Recombination Mechanisms, Seillac, France, May 2006
FASEB Summer Research Conference, Saxtons River, VT, June 2006
Instructor, DNA and Chromosomes: Physical and Biological Approaches, Corsica, France, June 2006
Universität Zuerich-Irchel, Institut für Veterinäbiochemie, Zürich, Switzerland, July 2006
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, November 2006
McGill University, Montreal-Quebec, Canada, November 2006
Colby College, Waterville, ME, December 2006
FASEB Recombination and chromosomal rearrangements, Snowmass Village, CO, July 2007 (Meeting Co-Chair)
ASBMB Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 2008
University of Paris Sud, Orsay, France, March 2008
FASEB Summer Research Conference, Snowmass Village, CO, August 2009 (Meeting Chair)
Cantoblanco Workshop “Molecular Mechanisms of Genomic Stability”, Madrid, Spain, May 2009
St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, November 2009
Chemistry Promotion Center, National Taiwan University, February 2010
Portland State University, Portland, OR, April 2010
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, April 2010
EMBO Conference on Recombination Mechanisms, Il Ciocco, Italy, May 2010
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, November 2010
KEYSTONE DNA Replication and Recombination, Keystone, CO, February 2011
AAAS 2011 Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, February 2011
ASBMB 2011 Annual Meeting, Washington DC, April 2011
The Forensic DNA Symposium, IA, June 2011
FASEB Summer Research Conference, Steamboat Springs, CO, July 2011
EMBO Conference "Recombination Mechanisms", Seville, Spain, May 2012
Green Mountain DNA Conference, Burlington, VT, August 2012
McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, March 2013
FASEB Summer Research Conference, Steamboat Springs, CO, July 2013
Green Mountain DNA Conference, Burlington, VT, August 2013
ASBMB Workshop, Designing Scientific Teaching Tools for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, April 2014
ABCAM, Mechanisms of Recombination: 50th Anniversary Meeting, Alicante, Spain, May 2014
Genomic Integrity Conference, Cairns, Australia, August 2015
Keynote speaker, Horizons Career Fair, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical, Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany,
September 2015
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, December 2015
University of Montana, Missoula, MT, December 2015
Mechanisms of Genome Maintenance: An International Symposium to Honor the Seminal Contributions of Dr. Stephen Kowalczykowski, Davis, CA, February 2016
First International Biotechnology Congress, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico City, Mexico, April 2016
ABCAM, Mechanisms of Genetic Recombination, Alicante, Spain, May 2016
ICGEB DNA Replication Conference: At the Intersection of DNA Replication and Genome Maintenance - From Mechanisms to Therapy, Trieste, Italy, June 2016
Sixth Genome Dynamics in the Nervous System-GDN6, Hong Kong, January 2017
Bugs on the Beach, Wollongong University, Wollongong, Australia, May 2017
FASEB Science Research Conference: Genetic Recombination and Genome Rearrangements, Steamboat Springs, CO,
July 2017
University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, March 2018
ABCAM, Mechanisms of Recombination, London, UK, May 2018
3R+3C Meeting, Kanazawa, Japan, November 2018
International Symposium, Orsay, France, May 2020