R. Michael Roberts

Curators' Professor of Animal Science

Email:	robertsrm@missouri.edu
Phone:	(573) 882-0908
Lab:	(573) 882-7793
Fax:	(573) 884-9676
Office:	240B Bond Life Sciences Center
Mailing Address:	Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center 240B Bond Life Sciences Center University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO 65211
Research Areas:	Reproductive biology: signaling between conceptus and uterus; stem cells.
Webpage:	http://robertslab.missouri.edu

Educational Background

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-Columbia 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

Maternal-conceptus interactions during early pregnancy in cattle.

Research in the Roberts laboratory is in several areas, mainly relating to trophoblast (placental) function and differentiation. A primary focus is on the interferon-tau, a family of gene products that were first cloned and identified in this laboratory as products of trophectoderm or pecoran ruminants, such as cattle and sheep, prior to attachment of the trophoblast the uterine wall. The role of the interferon-tau is in maternal recognition of pregnancy and particularly in preventing the regression of the corpus luteum and loss of progesterone support of early pregnancy. Present interests center around the transcriptional control of the several interferon-tau genes, the signaling function of the interferon receptor in the endometrium and the downstream genes that are regulated by IFN-t in the maternal uterus. The potential use of pharmacologically administered IFN-t in improving pregnancy success in cattle is also being studied.

A second project is on the role of transcription factors that are required for specification of the cell lineage that leads to the formation of trophoblast and that also seem to be necessary to drive the expression of the signature genes characteristic of trophoblast. Among the candidates being studied are Ets2, Dlx3, and Cdx2. The latter is particularly intriguing because it appears to be involved in pre-patterning of mouse embryonic development as early as the mature oocyte. Consequently, expression of the Cdx2 gene can be used to identify which cells of the cleavage stage embryo are destined to form trophoblast.

A third interest is in the control of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. The laboratory is particularly interested in the manner whereby differentiation of human ES cells can be largely eliminated by maintaining the cells under hypoxic conditions, even though growth of the cells is not compromised by low oxygen. This discovery allows investigators to grow these cell lines without the concern that they are undergoing spontaneous differentiation. It will also allow the phenotype of the undifferentiated ES cell to be defined.

A fourth interest is on how maternal diet can influence the sex of her offspring. Using a mouse model, the Roberts' laboratory has shown that diets high in fat tend to skew the sex ratio of pups towards males, whereas a low fat diet favors female pups. This bias is unrelated to the weight of the mothers. Present research is focused on the mechanisms involved in causing sex ratio skewing.

Selected Publications

Ghosh D, Sachdev S, Hannink M, Roberts RM.(2005) Coordinate regulation of basal and cAMP-activated expression of hCG{alpha} by Ets-2 and CREB. Mol Endocrinol. 19:1049-1066

Ezashi T., Das P. and Roberts R.M. (2005) Low O2 tensions and the prevention of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 102:4783-4788

Roberts, R.M. (2005) Embryo culture conditions: What embryos like best. Endocrinol. 146:2140-2141.

Green MP, Spate LD Bixby JA, Ealy AD, Roberts R.M. (2005) A comparison of the anti-luteolytic activities of recombinant ovine interferon-alpha and -tau in sheep Biol Reprod 73, 1087-1093.

Kimura, K., Spate, L. D., Green, M. P., Roberts, R. M. (2005) Effects of D-glucose concentration, D-fructose and inhibitors of enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway on the development and sex ration of bovine blastocysts. Molecular Reproduction and Development. 72:2, 201-207.

Chen Y., Green JA., Antoniou E., Ealy AD., Mathialagan NP., Walker AM., Avalle MP., Rosenfeld CS., Hearne L., Roberts RM (2006) A Comparison of Gene Expression Profiles in Ovine Endometrium at Day 14 of Pregnancy with those Following Intra-Uterine Infusion and Intramuscular Injections of Interferon-tau (IFNT) in Non-Pregnant Ewes. Endocrinology, 147(5):2127-2137.

Chakrabarty, A, Green JA, Roberts R.M. (2006) Origin and evolution of the TKDP gene family. GENE, 373. 35-43