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Wayne M. Becker

Professor of Botany*

Ph.D. (1967) University of Wisconsin

Office: B115 Birge Hall
Phone: 608-262-5833
Email: wbecker@facstaff.wisc.edu

Molecular and cellular biology of glyoxysomal and peroxisomal enzymes; bioethics; effective biology teaching; minority recruitment and retention 

I have deep roots in the Madison campus; I came here as a freshman in 1958 and, except for occasional postdoctoral and sabbatical studies abroad, have been here ever since. I received my B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry here at the UW, spent two years in Great Britain as a NATO/NIH postdoctoral fellow, and then returned to the UW campus in 1969 as a member of the Botany Department Faculty. Subsequently, I spent a sabbatical year in the Department of Botany at Edinburgh University as a Guggenheim fellow. 

Until recently, I directed a research program concerning the regulated expression of genes encoding enzymes that are present in the glyoxysomes of fat-storing cotyledons or endosperm (enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle) and/or in the peroxisomes of photosynthetic tissue (enzymes of the glycolate pathway). Involvement in this and related research projects resulted in Ph.D. degrees for ten students and M.S. degrees for another seven. 

In 1995, I set my research aside to focus more specifically on undergraduate teaching, and on the recruitment and retention of students of color and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

My teaching includes a bioethics course for undergraduates, entitled "Biology, Society, and Human Values," and contributions to two of the four semesters in the Biology Core (BioCore) Curriculum. In addition, I participate regularly in "Ways of Knowing," a new course intended to introduce honors-level freshmen to the world of research. 

My interests in teaching and in minority affairs have taken me on sabbatical leaves at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta; Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand; the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez; and in the Interfaculty Program in Biomedical Ethics at Harvard University.

Recent Publications

Becker, W. M. J. B. Reece and M. F. Poenie. 1996. The World of the Cell. third edition. Benjamin/Cummings, Redwood City, CA.

Becker, W. M. 1996. Solutions Manual for the World of the Cell, Third edition. Benjamin/ Cummings, Redwood City, CA.

Bertoni, G. P. and W. M. Becker. 1996. Expression of the cucumber hydroxypyruvate reductase gene is down-regulated by elevated CO2. Plant Physiology 112:599-605.

Daniel, S.G. and W.M. Becker. 1995. Transgenic analysis of the 5' and 3'-flanking regions of the NADH-dependent hydroxypyruvate reductase gene from Cucumis sativus L. Plant Molecular Biology 28:821-836.

Bertoni, G. P. and W. M. Becker. 1993. Effects of light fluence and wavelength on expression of the gene encoding cucumber hydroxypyruvate reductase. Plant Physiology 103:933-941.

 Sloan, J. S., B. W. Schwartz and W. M. Becker. 1993. Promoter analysis of a light-regulated gene encoding hydroxypyruvate reductase, an enzyme of the photorespiratory glycolate pathway. Plant Journal 3:867-874.

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© 2000 University of Wisconsin Department of Botany
Last updated: 19 November 2000