bmd

Department of Biomedical Sciences

at the

University of South Alabama

DR. MICHAEL P. SPECTOR

PROFESSOR of BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

 

Phone: (251) 380-2688; Fax: (251) 380-2710

E-mail: mspector@usouthal.edu

 

 

Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences - Microbiology & Immunology), 1986

Marshall University / West Virginia University Schools of Medicine

 

Postdoctoral Studies:

Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Marshall University School of Medicine, 1986

Department of Microbiology, University of Texas at Austin, 1986-1988

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

 

Dr. Spector’s research interests are in molecular genetics and physiology of bacteria. Our lab is currently investigating how the enteropathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium senses, responds to and survives short and long-term exposures to environmental stresses encountered both outside and inside their host organisms, such as nutrient starvation, extremes in temperature and pH, and exposures to hydrogen peroxide, redox cycling agents and antimicrobial peptides.  In particular, our lab is interested in identifying and characterizing genes that regulate and function in the starvation-stress response (SSR) in this bacteria.  The SSR involves the up-regulation and down-regulation of sets of genes, which lead to dramatic morphologic and physiologic changes in the cell.  The function of the SSR is to provide resistance to the long-term effects of carbon/energy-source (C)-starvation and to generate cross-resistance to other environmental stresses, i.e., extremes in pH or temperature and exposure to lethal levels of oxidizing agents (e.g., H2O2) and cationic antimicrobial peptides (e.g., polymyxin B).  Our lab has identify several genes (e.g., narZ, fadF, pbpG) and global regulators (e.g., sS, sE, cAMP-CRP) that play key roles in the development of the SSR in Salmonella.  Many of these functions are also expressed in vivo and are involved in S. Typhimurium's virulence in the BALB/c mouse model of Salmonella virulence.

 

HONORS/AWARDS:

  • "Top Prof" honoree, Golden Key Chapter of Mortar Board, University of South Alabama, 2008

  • "Top Prof" honoree, Golden Key Chapter of Mortar Board, University of South Alabama, 2005

  • Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, College of Allied Health, University of South Alabama, 2003

  • Scholar of the Year, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 2002.

  • Alpha Eta Society, elected member, 1999.

  • National Research Services Award - National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH, 1987-88

  • The Roche Laboratories Award (Clinical Sciences), National Student Research Forum, University of Texas Medical Branch, 1985

  • Mildred A. Wasserman Award for Outstanding Performance in Microbiology, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now known as University of the Sciences in Philadelphia),1981

  • Science Scholarship, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now known as University of the Sciences in Philadelphia), 1977-81

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

Books & Book Chapters:

Albert Moat, John W. Foster and Michael P. Spector. 2002. Microbial Physiology, 4th Edition. Wiley Publishing: New York, N.Y.

Michael P. Spector and John W. Foster. 1993. Starvation-stress response of Salmonella typhimurium: Gene expression and survival during nutrient starvation. in Stephan Kjelleberg (ed.), Starvation in Bacteria. Plenum Publishing Corp.: New York, NY., pp. 201-224.

Peer-Reviewed Articles & Reviews: [# denotes undergraduate students who've worked in the lab]

William J. Kenyon, Kristy L. Nicholson#, Bronislava Rezuchova, Dagmar Homerova, Francisco Garcia del-Portillo, B. Brett Finlay, Mark Pallen, Jan Kormanec and Michael P. Spector. 2007. sS-Dependent carbon-starvation-induction of pbpG (PBP 7) is required for the starvation-stress response in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.  Microbiology  153: 2148-2158.

Gary Rowley*, Michael P. Spector*, Jan Kormanec, and Mark Roberts. 2006. Pushing the envelope: Extracytoplasmic stress responses in bacterial pathogens. Nature Rev – Microbiol, 4: 383-394        [* contributed equally to the manuscript]

William J. Kenyon, Sheena M. Thomas#, Erin Johnson# and Michael P. Spector. 2005. Shifts from glucose to certain secondary carbon-sources result in activation of the extracytoplasmic function sigma factor sE in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.  Microbiology, 151: 2373-2383

Sue Humphreys, Gary Rowley, Andrew Stevenson, William J. Kenyon, Michael P. Spector and Mark Roberts. 2003.  The role of periplasmic peptidyl-prolyl-isomerases in Salmonella virulence.  Infection and Immunity, 71: 5386-5388

William J. Kenyon, D.Geary Sayers#, Sue Humphreys, Mark Roberts, and Michael P. Spector. 2002. The starvation-stress response of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium requires sE, but not CpxR, regulated extracytoplasmic functions.  Microbiology, 148: 113-122.

Robin L. Lucas, C. Phoebe Lostroh, Concetta C. DiRusso, Michael P. Spector, Barry L. Wanner, and Catherine A. Lee. 2000. Multiple factors independently regulate hilA and invasion gene expression in Salmonella typhimurium. Journal of Bacteriology  182: 1872-1882.

Michael P. Spector, Concetta C. DiRusso, Mark J. Pallen, Francisco Garcia-del Portillo, Gordon Dougan, and B.Brett Finlay. 1999.  The medium-/long-chain fatty acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (fadF) gene of Salmonella typhimurium is a phase 1 starvation-stress response (SSR) locus.  Microbiology 145: 15-31.

Michael P. Spector, Francisco Garcia-del Portillo, Shawn M. D. Bearson, Atif Mahmud#, Maureen Magut#, B.Brett Finlay, Gordon Dougan, John W. Foster and Mark J. Pallen.  1999.  The rpoS-dependent starvation-stress response locus stiA encodes a nitrate reductase (narZYWV) required for carbon-starvation-inducible thermotolerance and acid tolerance in Salmonella typhimurium. Microbiology 145: 3035-3045.

Michael P. Spector. 1998.  The starvation-stress response (SSR) of Salmonella.  Advances in Microbial Physiology 40: 233-279.

Genevieve I. McLeod# and Michael P. Spector. 1996. Starvation- and stationary-phase-induced resistance to the antimicrobial peptide polymyxin B in Salmonella typhimurium is RpoS (sS) independent and occurs through both phoP-dependent and -independent pathways. Journal of Bacteriology 178:3683-3688.

Robert L. Seymour#, Prashant V. Mishra#, M. Abdul Khan#, and Michael P. Spector. 1996. Essential roles of core starvation-stress response loci in carbon-starvation-inducible cross-resistance and hydrogen peroxide-inducible adaptive resistance to oxidative challenge in Salmonella typhimurium. Molecular Microbiology 20:497-505.

John W. Foster and Michael P. Spector. 1995. How Salmonella survive against the odds. Annual Review of Microbiology 49:145-174.

Carrie R. O'Neal#, William M. Gabriel#, Amy K. Turk#, Stephen J. Libby, Ferric C. Fang, and Michael P. Spector. 1994. RpoS is necessary for both the positive and negative regulation of starvation-survival genes during phosphate-, carbon-, and nitrogen-starvation in Salmonella typhimurium. Journal of Bacteriology 176:4610-4616.

Michael P. Spector and Christopher L. Cubitt#. 1992. Starvation-inducible loci of Salmonella typhimurium: Regulation and roles in starvation-survival. Molecular Microbiology 6:1467-1476.

Michael P. Spector. 1990. Gene expression in response to multiple nutrient starvation conditions in Salmonella typhimurium. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 74:175-184.

John W. Foster, Yeung K. Park, Thomas Penfound, Terry Fenger, and Michael P. Spector. 1990. Regulation of NAD metabolism in Salmonella typhimurium: Molecular sequence analysis of the bifunctional nadR regulator and the nadA-pnuC operon. Journal of Bacteriology 172: 4187-4196.

Michael P. Spector, Simin Tirgari and John W. Foster. 1988. Identification and characterization of starvation-regulated genetic loci in Salmonella typhimurium using Mud-directed lacZ operon fusions. Journal of Bacteriology 170: 345-351.
e-mail: mspector@usouthal.edu
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
 Department of Biomedical Sciences
UCOM 6000, Mobile, AL 36688
(251) 380-2710, fax: 380-2711
 Last updated: April 29, 2008