Michael Wesley Morrow
Research Assistant Professor, Biology


ADDRESS:
320 Block Hall
Department of Environmental Sciences
The University of Montana - Western
710 South Atlantic
Dillon, Montana 59725
(406) 683-7254
fax: (406) 683-7493
Email: m_morrow@umwestern.edu
More on Mike

Education
1995-2001 -- Ph.D. Department of Biological Sciences,University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1991-1995 -- Bachelor of Science, Department of Biology. Bloomsburg University of PA. Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania

Awards
1998 -- Stanton C. Crawford Memorial Teaching Award----Awarded annually to one graduate student for excellence in teaching (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh).

1995 -- Graduated cum laude----Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

1995 -- CPUB Biological Sciences Student of the Year----Awarded annually to the outstanding biology undergraduate student in the department of biology (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania).

1994 -- Howard Hughes Summer Research Fellowship----Selected to participate in a 10 week summer research program (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh).

1994 -- Biology and Allied Health Sciences Scholarship----Awarded annually to one outstanding student in biology or the allied health sciences (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania).

Grants
Nov. 2003 -- Montana BRIN travel grant----Successfully applied for a $2,196 travel grant from the NIH BRIN program in the state of Montana. This money was used to fund travel expenses for myself and a UM-Western under- graduate student to present research results at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting.

Nov. 2002 -- Montana BRIN travel grant----Successfully applied for a $1,597 travel grant from the NIH BRIN program in the state of Montana. This money was used to support travel to the University of Montana-Missoula to perform collaborative experiments in Dr. Stephen Lodmell's laboratory.

Oct. 2002 -- Montana BRIN mini grant----Successfully applied for a $10,000 mini-grant from the NIH BRIN program in the state of Montana. This money was used to purchase some laboratory equipment as well as to support a summer undergraduate researcher working in my laborator

Mar. 2002 -- Pfizer Research Fellowship----Obtained a summer research grant ($5000) with an undergraduate student, Matthew Bochman, to provide a stipend for him to perform a summer research project in my lab and also to provide equipment money (Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA).

Teaching Experience
Aug. 2004... -- Asst. Prof. of Biology -- The University of Montana-Western

Aug. 2002 - June 2004 -- Research Asst. Prof. -- Taught Cell/Molecular biology, Genomics and Microbiology lecture and lab courses at the University of Montana-Western in Dillon, MT. Also developed an undergraduate cell and molecular biology research program, advised undergraduate researchers and wrote grant proposals.

2001/2002 -- von Liebig Teaching, Postdoctoral Fellow. -- Developed a sophomore-level cell biology course, upper-level molecular year biology course, a cell biology laboratory course and taught a freshman biology laboratory course at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA.

2001/2002 -- Research Advisor. -- Advised seven undergraduate students in academic yeast cell and molecular biology research year and summer projects of my own design at Juniata College.

Fall 1999 & 2000 -- Instructor. -- Designed and taught a molecular biology course for first year dental students at the University of Pittsburgh Dental School.

Summer 1999 -- Instructor. -- Developed two, five-week biology research projects and instructed advanced high school students during the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.

Spring 1998 -- Teaching Assistant. -- Assisted in preparation, instruction and grading of two sections of a two credit developmental biology lab course. Assisted students and graded exams for a three credit developmental biology lecture course at the University of Pittsburgh.

1997-2000 -- Lab Mentor. -- Mentored and directed the research of Stephanie Knezevich, an undergraduate student in Jeff Brodsky's lab at the University of Pittsburgh.

Spring 1997 & 1998 -- Lab Mentor. -- Mentored two first year graduate students, Kevin Davis and Kyoungha Han, with their projects during 10 week research rotations in Jeff Brodsky's lab at the University of Pittsburgh.

Summer 1997/1998 Instructor. -- Instructed ~40 high school students in a one day molecular biology workshop at the University of Pittsburgh.

Summer 1996/1997 -- Lab Mentor. -- Advised and mentored two high school students, Melanie King and Chanel Rose, with research projects in Jeff Brodsky's lab at the University of Pittsburgh.

Fall 1996 -- Teaching Assistant -- Instructed and graded one section of an upper level two credit Microbiology lab course at the University of Pittsburgh.

Service
Dec. 2003 -- Invited seminar -- Presented an invited seminar at The University of Montana-Missoula entitled "A tale of two yeasts: Insights into the Candida albicans secretory pathway using Saccharomyces cerevisiae."

June 2003 -- Math/Science Upward Bound -- Taught a short Latin course and a course on research methods to high school students participating in the program (Dillon, MT). Also had students shadow in the laboratory where they purified DNA, performed PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis.

June 2003 -- "Science Mine" Contributor -- Wrote two articles about DNA for "The Science Mine" in the Montana Standard newspaper. "The Science Mine" is a weekly column that showcases the expertise of local professionals by answering questions submitted by the community.

May 2003 -- Rotary Club presentation -- Gave a research presentation to the Dillon community Rotary Club.

May 2002 -- State Science Olympiad -- Developed a cell biology/genetics practical exam for the Pennsylvania State High School Science Olympiad competition (Juniata College).

Research Experience
Current research interests -- My lab is currently interested in beginning to dissect the details of the early secretory pathway in the pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans. Most integral membrane proteins and proteins destined for secretion, translocate across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane via post- or co-translational translocation mechanisms. Many cytosolic and ER proteins, which are required for these processes to occur, are very highly conserved from humans to yeasts. Using the sequence information from the nearly completed C. albicans genome project and a PCR-based approach, we have been able to clone three genes from C. albicans genomic DNA that are involved in the ER translocation process. Aside from cloning other ER translocation components, we are also using an in vitro translocation system to assess the function of the cloned C. albicans gene products. This is being accomplished by heterologously expressing the cloned C. albicans genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells that are mutant for the homologous ER translocation gene. Microsomes are then prepared from these cells and used in in vitro translocation assays to assess the activity of the C. albicans genes, and to gain insight into their functions.

Ph.D. thesis work -- While in graduate school, I investigated the mechanism by which secretory and membrane proteins translocate across the ER membrane in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using ion exchange and metal affinity chromatography, I successfully purified a protein complex from the yeast ER, which includes a pore that spans the membrane ten times. I also gained experience with advanced protein purification methods such as heterologous expression in Escherichia coli and FPLC. I refined an in vitro technique using reconstituted proteoliposomes to aid in identifying the ribosome receptor on the ER membrane. I have also used these vesicles to perform in vitro protein translocation (import) assays. My work has involved extensive use of cell fractionation and western blotting techniques. I also performed a genetic screen in S. cerevisiae to search for mutations in BiP, an hsc70 molecular chaperone that resides in the ER. These mutants are defective for retro-translocation (export) of misfolded proteins out of the ER, a process that is necessary for secretory protein quality control. This screen required extensive use of molecular biology and yeast genetic techniques.

Howard Hughes summer research project -- In 1994, I was fortunate to have been selected for a Howard Hughes summer research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. I worked in the laboratory of Dr. David Burgess and aided a graduate student who was investigating a novel tyrosine kinase in chicken intestinal epithelium tip cells. I performed extensive western blotting analyses using a new antibody that was raised against a small peptide from the kinase. I also performed classical molecular biology techniques to over-express this protein in E. coli.

Publications
Kabani, M., S. H. Stewart, M. W. Morrow, D. L. Montgomery, R. Sivendran. M. D. Rose, L. M. Gierasch and J. L. Brodsky. (2003). Dependence of endoplasmic reticulum associated degradation (ERAD) on the peptide binding domain and concentration of BiP. Mol. Biol. Cell. 14: 3437-3448.

Morrow, M. W. and Brodsky, J. L. (2001) Yeast ribosomes bind to highly purified reconstituted Sec61p complex and to mammalian p180. Traffic 2: 705-716.

Morrow, M. W. and Brodsky, J. L. Protein import into the endoplasmic reticulum: methods. In Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (September, 2000) http://www.els.net, London: Nature Publishing Group.

Abstracts and Presentations
Morrow, M. W., M. L. Bochman* and K. R. Lund*. The cloning and initial characterization of the Candida albicans KAR2 and SEC61 genes. American Society for Cell Biology meeting. December 2003.

Brodsky, J.L., Kabani, M., Stewart, S.H. and Morrow, M.W. The role of BiP in ER associated protein degradation (ERAD). American Society for Cell Biology meeting. December 2002.

Morrow, M. W., Knezevich, S. M. and Brodsky, J. L. Reconstitution of ribosome binding to yeast ER proteins, the Sec61p complex and mammalian p180. American Society for Cell Biology meeting. December 2000.

Morrow, M. W., Knezevich, S. M. and Brodsky, J. L. Regulation of ribosome binding to the yeast endoplasmic reticulum. American Society for Cell Biology meeting. December 1999.

Morrow, M. W., Goeckeler, J. L. and Brodsky, J. L. Ribosome binding to reconstituted proteoliposomes: Is the Sec61p complex the ribosome receptor in yeast? Mid-Atlantic Yeast Meeting. June 1997

Professional Organizations and Activities
American Society for Cell Biology (since 1999)

American Society for Microbiology (since 2001)

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (since 2001)

University of Pittsburgh Biology Teaching Club (1998-2001)