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
Until recently, we have been investigating homologous genetic recombination as a path for the repair of stalled or collapsed replication forks. Our research more recently has been focused on the repair of postreplication lesion-containing DNA gaps. The lesions in these gaps cannot be repaired by standard repair processes until a complementary DNA strand is provided. Gap filling can occur by RecA-mediated recombination, an enigmatic process of template switching, or translesion DNA synthesis. Four proteins are of particular interest: RecF, RarA, RadD, and Uup. All are involved in the generation of gaps or in one of the gap filling processes. All play an important role in maintaining genome stability. A second 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
- 2021 Elected ASBMB Fellow
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 – 2015, Chair, departmental space and remodeling committee
- 1992 – 2015, 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 – 2015, Assistant Chair, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
- Current: Development Committee, Faculty Awards Committee, Space Management Committee, Undergraduate Committee, DEI Committee, Promotion to Full Professor Advisory Committee for Katie Henzler-Wildman
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 Teaching Responsibilities
- Biochemistry 507, fall semester (undergraduate survey course; 150+ students)
- Biochemistry 907, spring seminar course
- 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 (not given; pandemic)
- ABCAM, Mechanisms of Recombination, Cambridge, UK, April 2020 (not given; pandemic)