Michael Reese, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor

Dr. Reese received a B.S. degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University in 1998. While at Yale, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Axel Brunger on structural studies of mammalian vesicular transport proteins (SNAPs and SNAREs). After Yale, Dr. Reese spent two years teaching high school science to gifted students with learning disabilities.

Dr. Reese received a Ph.D. in Biophysics in 2006 from the University of California, San Francisco, where he worked jointly in the laboratories of Dr. Frances Brodsky and Dr. Volker Doetsch on the structural basis for the activities of proteins involved in protein trafficking and neuronal signaling. During his postdoctoral work with John Boothroyd at Stanford University, Dr. Reese made the surprising discovery that a family of catalytically inactive kinases, or pseudokinases, are essential to Toxoplasma's ability to cause disease in mice.  Dr. Reese went on to demonstrate that these pseudokinases are allosteric inhibitors of the immune-related GTPases, which are critical for the control of a variety of intracellular pathogens.

In the fall of 2013, Dr. Reese joined the faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at UT Southwestern. His lab is focused on determining the many mechanisms by which the ubiquitous intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, co-opts the signaling networks of its host organisms. His laboratory combines techniques from multiple disciplines: from classical and molecular genetics and cell biology to biophysics and structural biology. This allows the examination of problems at many levels, from the atomic order structures of protein-protein complexes to the analysis of the signatures of evolutionary competition written in the genomes of the parasite and its hosts.

Undergraduate

Yale University (1998), Molecular Biophysics

Graduate School

University of California-San F (2006), Biophysics

• Biochemistry
• Biophysics
• Cell signaling, kinases, pseudokinases
• Host-pathogen interaction; co-evolution
• Immunology
• Structural biology

Featured Publications

Ancient MAPK ERK7 is regulated by an unusual inhibitory scaffold required for Toxoplasma apical complex biogenesis.

Back PS, O'Shaughnessy WJ, Moon AS, Dewangan PS, Hu X, Sha J, Wohlschlegel JA, Bradley PJ, Reese ML, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2020 May

Loss of a conserved MAPK causes catastrophic failure in assembly of a specialized cilium-like structure in Toxoplasma gondii.

O'Shaughnessy WJ, Hu X, Beraki T, McDougal M, Reese ML, Mol. Biol. Cell 2020 Apr 31 9 881-888

Divergent kinase regulates membrane ultrastructure of the Toxoplasma parasitophorous vacuole.

Beraki T, Hu X, Broncel M, Young JC, O'Shaughnessy WJ, Borek D, Treeck M, Reese ML Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019

The coccidian parasites Toxoplasma and Neospora dysregulate mammalian lipid droplet biogenesis.

Hu X, Binns D, Reese ML J. Biol. Chem. 2017 May

Polymorphic family of injected pseudokinases is paramount in Toxoplasma virulence.

Reese ML, Zeiner GM, Saeij JP, Boothroyd JC, Boyle JP Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2011 Jun 108 23 9625-30

The assembly of lipid droplets and their roles in challenged cells.

Henne WM, Reese ML, Goodman JM EMBO J. 2018 May

Toxoplasma DJ-1 Regulates Organelle Secretion by a Direct Interaction with Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase 1.

Child MA, Garland M, Foe I, Madzelan P, Treeck M, van der Linden WA, Oresic Bender K, Weerapana E, Wilson MA, Boothroyd JC, Reese ML, Bogyo M MBio 2017 Feb 8 1

The Toxoplasma pseudokinase ROP5 is an allosteric inhibitor of the immunity-related GTPases.

Reese ML, Shah N, Boothroyd JC J. Biol. Chem. 2014 Aug

Impact of Regulated Secretion on Antiparasitic CD8 T Cell Responses.

Grover HS, Chu HH, Kelly FD, Yang SJ, Reese ML, Blanchard N, Gonzalez F, Chan SW, Boothroyd JC, Shastri N, Robey EA Cell Rep 2014 May

Expression of the essential kinase PfCDPK1 from Plasmodium falciparum in Toxoplasma gondii facilitates the discovery of novel antimalarial drugs.

Gaji RY, Checkley L, Reese M, Ferdig MT, Arrizabalaga G Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2014 Feb

 Featured Books

Interactions Between Toxoplasma Effectors and Host Immune Respones. In Toxoplasma gondii. 2nd edition. K. Kim and L. Weiss (eds.)

Butcher BA, Reese ML, Boothroyd JC, Denkers EY. (2013). London, Academic Press

• NSF CAREER Award
  (2016)
• UT Southwestern President's Research Council Distinguished Researcher Award
  (2015)
• NIAID K22 Research Scholar Development Award
  Career transition grant (2011-2016)
• American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
  (2009-2011)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
  (2003-2006)