R. Michael Roberts
Curators' Professor of Animal Science and Biochemistry
Member, National Academy of Sciences
E-mail:robertsrm@missouri.edu
Office: 240B Bond Life Sciences Center
Mail: Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center
240B Bond Life Sciences Center
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
Phone: 573-882-0908
Fax: 573-884-9676
Lab: 573-882-7793
Lab site: http://robertslab.missouri.edu
Educational background
| Degree | School | Location | Major |
| BA | Oxford University | Oxford, England | Botany |
| PhD | Oxford University | Oxford, England | Plant Physiology/Biochemistry |
Notable honors and service
- Researcher of the Year, CAFNR, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1995
- Milstein Award, International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research, 1995
- Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1996
- Curators' Professor, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996
- Alexander von Humboldt Award for Agriculture, 1996
- Presidential Award (University of Missouri) for Research and Creativity, 1997
- Docteur Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) from the University of Liege, Belgium, 1998
- A. Nalbandov Memorial Lecturer, University of Illinois, 2000
- Wolf Prize for Agriculture, 2003
- Larry Ewing Memorial Lecturer, John Hopkins University School of Public Health, 2003
- University of Missouri Faculty/Alumni Award, 2004-05
- Scientific American "Top 50" list for accomplishments in research and technological leadership, 2005
- Patent Recipient Awardee, University of Missouri Technology Transfer Showcase, 2006
- Carl G. Hartman Award, Recognition of a research career and scholarly activities in the field of reproductive biology, 2006
Research description
Dr. Roberts’ laboratory conducts research in four main areas.
A first area of interest is a study of the transcriptional control of expression of the interferon-tau genes (IFNT), whose protein products play a crucial role in establishing communication between the conceptus and mother during early pregnancy of cattle. With Angela Walker, a postdoctoral fellow, we have also recently initiated research on the evolution of the IFNT and the entire type 1 interferon locus in ruminant species and discovered an entirely new sub-family of interferon genes.
A second research area is utilizing human embryonic stem cells (hESC) as models for trophoblast differentiation. These cells can be directed to form colonies with many features of trophoblast when they are exposed to the growth factor BMP4. We are using this model system to explore the initial events that specify trophoblast, the progressive conversion of these cells to more differentiated lineages (especially one with the invasive phenotype of extra-villous trophoblast), and the role of oxygen in the differentiation process.
In a third area with Toshihiko Ezashi, a Research Assistant Professor, the laboratory has created induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from porcine embryonic fibroblasts by re-programming. We are attempting to improve the efficiency of this process and exploring the possible use of such cells for tissue grafts of pigs. Reprogramming also led to the production of cell lines with the properties of trophoblast, thereby providing a potential source of trophoblast stem cells and a means for studying trophoblast specification.
Our fourth interest is in the manner by which maternal diet can influence the sex of offspring in mice and livestock species, and particularly why in mice a diet high in saturated fats can skew sex ratio of pups towards sons while a diet very low in fat favors the birth of daughters.
Selected publications
Roberts, RM (2008) Interferon-Tau, a Type 1 Interferon involved in maternal recognition of pregnancy. Cytokine and Growth Factors Review. 18 (5-6) 403-8 PMC2000448 PMID 17662642
Fountain, E.D., Mao, J., Whyte, J.J., Mueller, K.E., Ellersieck, M.R., Will, M.R., Roberts, R.M., MacDonald, R., Rosenfeld, C.S. (2008) Effects of diets enriched in omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids on offspring sex-ratio and maternal behavior in mice. Biol of Reprod. 78, 211-217. PMID 17928632
Das P, Ezashi, T., Gupta, R, Roberts RM. (2008) Combinatorial roles of protein kinase A, Ets2 and CBP/p300 in the transcriptional control of interferon-tau expression in a trophoblast cell line. Mol. Endocrinol. 22:331-43 PMC2234587 PMID 17975022
Schulz, L., Ezashi, T., Das, P., Westfall, SD, Livingston, KA Roberts RM. (2008) Human embryonic stem cells as models for trophoblast differentiation. Placenta 29 Suppl A, Trophoblast Research. 22:S10-S16 PMC2330081 PMID 18054384
Roberts, RM, Chen, Y., Ezashi, T & Walker A. (2008) Interferons and the Maternal-Conceptus Dialog in Mammals Semin Cell Dev Biol. 19:170-7. PMC2278044 PMID 198032074
Ezashi, T., Das, P., Gupta R., Walker, A., Roberts, R.M. (2008) The Role of Homeobox Protein Distal-less3 and its interaction with Ets2 in Regulating Interferon-Tau Gene Expression-Synergistic transcriptional activation with Ets2. Biol Reprod. 79:115-24. PMID 18322277
Westfall, SD., Sachdev, S., Das, P., Hearne, L., Hannink, M., Roberts, RM., Ezashi, T. (2008) Identification of Oxygen Sensitive Transcriptional Programs in Human Embryonic Stem Cell. Stem Cell & Development Oct; 17(5):869-81 PMID18811242
Ghosh, D, Srivastava, G, Xu, D, Roberts, RM. (2008) A link between SIN1 (MAPKAP1) and Poly(rC) Binding protein-2 (PCBP2) in counteracting environmental stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105: 11673-8. PMID 18687895
Green MP, Spate, LD, Parks TE., Kimura, K., Murphy CN., Williams, JE., Kerley, MS., Green, JA., Keisler, DH., Roberts, RM. (2008) Nutritional skewing of conceptus sex in sheep: Effects of a maternal diet enriched in rumen-protected polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Reprod Biol Endocrinol, 6:21. PMID 18541015 PMC2432061
Ireland, J.J., Roberts, R.M., Palmer, G.H., Bauman, D.E., Bazer, F.W. (2008) A commentary on domestic animals as dual-purpose models that benefit agricultural and biomedical research. J Animal Sci 10:2445-6. PMID 18567718
Schulz, LC, Widmaier EP, Qiu J, Roberts RM. (2009) Effects of leptin on mouse trophoblast giant cells. Biol of Reprod. 80:415-24. PMID 19038858
Egen TE, Ealy AD, Landon LA, Roberts RM, Green JA (2009) Autoimmunization of ewes against pregnancy-associated glycoproteins does not interfere with the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Animal. 3:6, pp 850-857. Doi: 10.1017/S1751731109004145
Walker A, Kimura K, Roberts RM. (2009) Expression of bovine interferon-tau variants according to sex and age of conceptuses. Theriogenology 72: 44-53 PMID19324401 PMC2692756
Walker A, Roberts RM. (2009) Characterization of the bovine type I IFN Locus: Rearrangements, expansions, and novel subfamilies. BMC Genomics 10: 187. PMID 19393062 PMC2680415
Ezashi T, Telugu B, Alexenko A, Shrikesh S, Sinha S, Roberts RM (2009) Derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells from pig somatic cells. PNAS Online June 18. PMID 19541600
Roberts, RM., Smith GW., Bazer, EW., Cibelli, J., Seidel Jr, GE., Bauman DE., Reynolds, LP and Ireland, JJ. (2009) Farm Animal Research in Crisis. Policy Forum. Science April 24. PMID 19390030