Ulrich Melcher

Read Genomics-Proteomics reporting of an interview with UM

Regents' Professor

Robert Sirny Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Associate Member, National Institute for Microbial Forensics and Food Agricultural Biosecurity (NIMFFAB)

Birthdate: July 7, 1945

Birthplace: London, U. K.

PS99 and PS117 elementary schools, Queens, NY

Robert J. Van Wyck Junior High School (PS217), Jamaica, NY

Staples High School, Westport, CT, 1962

B.S., Biochemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1965

Ph.D., Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 1970. Advisor: Professor Joseph E. Varner, Plant Research Laboratory.

1970-71	Postdoctoral Fellow, Institut for Molekylaer Biologi, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark. Advisor: Professor Kjeld A. Marcker
1971-72	Research Associate, Department of Medicine, New York University Medical School, New York, NY. Advisor: Professor Jonathan W. Uhr.
1972-74	Research Associate, Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX. Advisor: Professor Jonathan W. Uhr.
1974-75	Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX.
1975-78	Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK.
1978-83	Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK.
1983	Sabbatical leave in the Laboratory of Plant Virology of the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology in Strasbourg, France. Supported in part by a Fulbright Scholarship.
1983-99	Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK.
1992-2000	Director, Recombinant DNA/Protein Resource Facility at Oklahoma State University
1999-present	Robert Sirny Professor of Agricultural Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK.
2008-present	Regents' Professor, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater OK

NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship from November 1970 to November 1971

NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship from September 1973 to November 1974

Departmental prize for superior ability as Teaching Assistant (MSU)

Fulbright Scholarship (1983)

James A. Whatley Award of Merit for Excellence in Agricultural Research from Oklahoma State University Division of Agriculture (1984)

Awarded professor of the century Hedgie by Daily O'Collegian columnist Cory Pfeifer (1999)

Sigma Xi Chapter Lectureship Award (2000) from Chapter 101

Celebrate State Award, OSU, March 2002

Phoenix Award Finalist, OSU Graduate and Professional Student Association, April 2005; Winner April 2006 (see photos)

Fellow, American Phytopathological Society, 2006 to present

In formal teaching duties, I have sole responsibility for one course and share responsibility for three other courses.

Gene 5102, "Molecular Genetics", is taught every fall semester for two semester credit hours to beginning graduate students. A webtext, modeled after the course, is periodically under revision. It is based on a series of hypercard stacks developed for previous years and used by student and instructor alike. The webtext has been voted a "Cool Site" by the Open Directory Project. It is also listed as a favorite site with Scientist Solutions, "the international forum by scientists...for scientists".
Beginning in 1998, I have had sole responsibility for Biochem 6763, Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis, a course offered in spring semesters of even-numbered years. This course melds molecular cloning with nucleic acid structure, nucleic acid-protein interactions and the enzymology of nucleic acid and protein synthesis. During 2004 to 2008 the responsibility has been split with Dr. Ramamurthy Mahalingam.
I guest lecture on protein evolution in a course on protein structure and function.