Tyrrell Conway

Professor, Molecular Microbiology & Functional Genomics
Director, Microarray and Bioinformatics Core Facilities


See the Functional Genomics World
B.S. 1979, Ph.D. 1984, Oklahoma State University
Postdoc (w/ L. O. Ingram) 1985-1988, University of Florida
Assistant Professor, 1988 to 1993, University of Nebraska
Associate Professor, 1994 to 1999, The Ohio State University
Associate Professor, 1999 to present, University of Oklahoma
Professor, 2004 to present, University of Oklahoma
Co-director, 1999 to present, OU Advanced Center for Genome Technology

Research Interests:

Our work with Escherichia coli centers on the physiological state of colonized bacteria in the large intestine. We are using functional genomics (genomic expression profiling using DNA arrays), together with more traditional approaches, to ask which E. coli genes are expressed in the large intestine. The data are illuminating cellular processes -- nutrition, stress-tolerance, and virulence factors -- that are important for colonization and pathogenesis. The work involves testing of several hypotheses in the mouse model, including the possibility that defects in specific metabolic pathways render E. coli mutants unable to grow in the host and, therefore, avirulent. We are comparing commensal (innocuous) E. coli strains with the pathogen E. coli O157:H7, for which we have fabricated DNA microarrays, to identify factors that allow the pathogen to infect normally colonized hosts. There is also an applied side to our research. We are identifying genetic systems in E. coli that provide resistance to environmental stresses. Not only are these systems likely to be involved in colonization and disease, but it may also be possible to make these systems portable for expression in industrial microorganisms.

DNA Microarray / Bacterial Functional Genomics Home Page

Selected Publications:

For more information about this program, contact the Department or Dr. Tyrrell Conway.