Michael Reese

Dr. Michael Reese is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he has been a faculty member since 2013. His research laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms by which the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii co-opts host cell signaling networks to establish infection and cause disease.

Dr. Reese received his educational training through the following institutions:

• B.S. in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University (1998)
• Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco (2006)
• Postdoctoral training with Dr. John Boothroyd at Stanford University (2006-2013)

Dr. Reese's research program takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying Toxoplasma gondii, combining molecular genetics, cell biology, biophysics, and structural biology techniques. His lab is particularly interested in how the parasite's arsenal of atypical effector kinases and pseudokinases protect it from the host immune system and regulate the maturation of the parasitophorous vacuole. Through an evolutionary lens, his research aims to understand how signaling networks evolve new characteristics and how host-pathogen competition drives changes in disease outcomes.

Analysis of Dr. Reese's recent publications reveals a strong focus on the structural and functional characterization of Toxoplasma proteins involved in host-pathogen interactions, with particular emphasis on kinase signaling pathways, the apical complex invasion machinery, and the parasite's manipulation of host cell processes. His work frequently employs cutting-edge techniques including cryo-electron tomography, structural biology, and molecular genetics to uncover novel mechanisms of pathogenesis.

Dr. Reese has received numerous prestigious awards and honors for his research:

• NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2003-2006)
• American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2009-2011)
• NIAID K22 Research Scholar Development Award
• UT Southwestern President's Research Council Distinguished Researcher Award (2015)
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2016)
• Burrough's Wellcome Investigator in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (2022)

Dr. Reese has mentored numerous students and postdoctoral fellows in his laboratory, including current graduate students Jalen Dozier, Wil O'Shaughnessy, Ari Paiz, and Jackson Trotter, as well as postdoc Pravin Dewangan. His former trainees include Tsebaot Beraki (now a Scientist at Thermo-Fisher Scientific) and Xiaoyu Hu (now an Assistant Professor at Hebei University). Through his research program, Dr. Reese has secured significant grant funding from organizations including the National Institutes of Health and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

The Reese Lab maintains an active research program with a diverse team of staff scientists, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. The lab is committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in the scientific community and actively recruits scientists from all backgrounds. Recent technical advances in the lab include the application of cryo-FIB milling and cryo-electron tomography to visualize Toxoplasma's invasion machinery in its native state, providing unprecedented structural insights into the parasite's infection mechanisms.