Curriculum Vitae MICHAEL JAMES WACKER Office Address: Home ...

MICHAEL JAMES WACKER
Curriculum Vitae
Office Address: Home Address:
University of Missouri-Kansas City 1003 N. Marion St.
School of Medicine Olathe, KS 66061
Department of Basic Medical Science Phone: 785-550-4017
Kansas City, MO 66061
Phone: 816-235-6069
Education/Degrees: Year Department Degree
Texas Christian University 1997 Biology B.S. Summa Cum Laude
Ft. Worth, Texas
University of Kansas 2003 Molecular Ph.D. Honors
Lawrence, Kansas Biosciences
Positions:
1997-2003 Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant- Dept. Molecular Biosciences
University of Kansas
2003-2006 Post-Doctoral Fellow- NIH post-doctoral fellowship- University of Kansas; Dept.
Molecular Biosciences, Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Applied
Physiology Laboratory
2006-2007 Instructor in Molecular Biosciences/ Academic Program Associate- University of
Kansas
2007-present Assistant Professor of Physiology, Dept. of Basic Medical Science, School of
Medicine, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Adjunct Graduate Faculty - School of Nursing, UMKC
Honors and Awards:
Nominee of the Department of Molecular Biosciences for the Graduate School Teaching Award
(1999)
Completed Comprehensive Oral Exam with Honors (1999)
Graduate School Summer Fellowship awarded for academic achievement by the graduate school
at the University of Kansas (2000)
E.L. and Mildred Pursell Wolf Award for academic performance in the Division of
Biological Sciences (2001)
Completed dissertation defense and Ph.D. requirements with Honors (2003)
Awarded NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship- Institutional Research and Academic Career
Development Award – NIH/NIGMS- (2003)
Scholarly activity:
Invited Talks:
Biology Department, Creighton University- January, 2007
Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, University of Missouri-Kansas City- February, 2008
Muscle Biology Research Group (MUBIG) 1 st annual Symposium; University of Missouri-
Kansas City Health Science Building. June, 2008.
Oral Biology Seminar Series; School of Dentistry, University of Missouri-Kansas City. July,
2008.
Experimental Biology; American Physiological Society- Muscle Biology Group Feature topic,

April, 2009; New Orleans, LA “The Effects of Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate on
Cardiac Muscle”
Memberships:
American Physiological Society- 2002-present
American Heart Association- 2003-present
Scientific Groups:
Charter Member of the Muscle Biology Research Group (MUBIG) Member- 2007-present
Associate member of the Center for Bone Biology and Musculoskeletal Diseases- 2008- present
Journal Reviewer:
Experimental and Molecular Pathology
Disease Markers
Cell Biochemistry and Function
Major Committees:
Member of committee for development of a grant proposal to the NSF for programs to support
undergraduate research and mentoring in the biological sciences- 2006 KU
Member of the committee for diversity in science training- RISE, BRIDGE, IMSD, PREP NIH
training programs- 2006 KU
Interview and Selection Committee for Anesthesiology Assistant Program UMKC- 2008-present
Search committee for 2 positions for the Shock/Trauma research group in UMKC Basic Medical
Science Department- 2008- present
Conferences/workshops attended:
Federation of the American Society of Experimental Biology (FASEB)- 1999-2009
Neuroscience- 2002
PCR workshop- Integrated DNA Technologies-2003
Quantitative PCR workshop- Integrative DNA Technologies-2004
American Heart Association 2 nd Annual Symposium of the American Heart Association on Basic
Cardiovascular Sciences- Targeting heart Failure: New Science, New Tools, New
Strategies- 2005
American Heart Association Scientific Sessions- 2005
BIO-TRAC- NIH worshop on Microarray technology- 2006
Integrative Biology of Exercise-V: Hilton Head, South Carolina; Sept., 2008
Research
Grants:
Current/Funded:
1. UMKC School of Medicine Startup Funding
Role: PI
Period: 08/2007-07/2010
2. Project Title: Bi-directional Crosstalk between Bones and Muscles
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Program: Missouri Life Sciences Institute/UMKC Center of Musculoskeletal Diseases
Total Direct Costs: $71,200

Period: 03/2009-02/2010
3. Project Title: Prevention of Muscle and Bone Loss with a Combination of Electrical Stimulation
(ES) and Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy (PEMF)
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Program: Missouri Life Sciences Institute/UMKC Center of Musculoskeletal Diseases
Total Direct Costs: $48,800
Period: 03/2009-02/2010
4. Project Title: Role of Serotonin in Cardiovascular Calcification
Role: Co-Principal Investigator with Jon Andresen and Jeff Gorski
Program: Missouri Life Sciences Institute/UMKC Center of Musculoskeletal Diseases
Total Direct Costs: $25,300
Period: 03/2009-02/2010
Pending:
1. Project Title: Cardiac thromboxane A2 receptors, intracellular calcium signaling, and
hypertrophy
Role: Principal Investigator
Program: American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant- National Center
Total Direct Costs: $280,000
Period: 07/01/09-06/30/13
2. Project Title: Cardiac thromboxane A2 receptors, intracellular calcium signaling, and
hypertrophy
Role: Principal Investigator
Program: American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant- Midwest Affiliate
Total Direct Costs: $195,000
Period: 07/01/09-06/30/12
3. Project title: Genetic study of Sarcopenia
Role: Co-Investigator (PI: Deng)
Program: NIH- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Total Direct Costs: $2,483,181
Period: 07/01/09-06/30/14
Completed:
Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award
PI: C.R. Middaugh (current PI- M.L. Michaelis)
Agency: NIH-NIGMS (1 K12 GM63651-06)
Period: 11/2003-10/2006
Publications:
Wacker MJ, Tehrani RN, Smoot RL, and Orr JA. Thromboxane A2 mimetic evokes a bradycardia
mediated by stimulation of cardiac vagal afferent nerves. American Journal of Physiology: Heart
and Circulatory Physiology 282: H482-H490, 2002.
Wacker MJ, Wilhelm HL, Gomez SE, Floor E, and Orr JA. Role of serotonin in thromboxane A2-
induced coronary chemoreflex. American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory
Physiology 284: H867-H875, 2003.

Wacker MJ and Godard MP. Analysis of one-step and two-step real-time RT-PCR using SuperScript
III. Journal of Biomolecular Techniques 16: 266-271, 2005
Whitman SA, Wacker MJ, Richmond SR, and Godard MP. Contributions of the ubiquitin-proteasome
pathway and apoptosis to human skeletal muscle wasting with age. Pflugers Archiv: European
Journal of Physiology 450: 437-446, 2005.
Wacker MJ, Tyburski JB, Ammar CP, Adams MC, and Orr JA. Detection of thromboxane A2 receptor
mRNA in rabbit nodose ganglion neurons. Neuroscience Letters 386: 121-126, 2005.
Wacker MJ, Best SR, Kosloski LM, Stachura CJ, Smoot RL, Porter CB, and Orr JA. Thromboxane A2-
induced arrhythmias in the anesthetized rabbit. American Journal of Physiology: Heart and
Circulatory Physiology 290: H1353-H1361, 2006.
Touchberry CD, Wacker MJ, Richmond SR, Whitman SA, and Godard MP. Age related changes in
relative expression of real-time PCR housekeeping genes in human skeletal muscle. Journal of
Biomolecular Techniques 17: 157-62, 2006.
Wacker M.J, Godard MP, McCabe EH, Donnelly JE, Kelly JK. Sex difference in the association of the
angiotensin converting enzyme I/D polymorphism and body mass index. Medical Science
Monitor 14: CR353-357, 2008
Wacker MJ, Tehel MM, Gallagher PM. Technique for quantitative RT-PCR analysis directly from
single muscle fibers. Journal of Applied Physiology. 105; 308-15, 2008.
Kosloski LM, Bales IK, Allen KB, Walker BL, Borkon AM, Stuart RS, Pak AP, Wacker MJ.
Purification of cardiac myocytes from human heart biopsies for gene expression analysis.
American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology. Under Review.
Wacker MJ, Kosloski LM, Gilbert WJR, Touchberry CD, Moore DS, Kelly JK, Brotto MA, Orr JA.
Inhibition of thromboxane A2-induced arrhythmias and intracellular calcium changes in cardiac
myocytes by blockade of the IP3 pathway. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental
Therapeutics. Under Review.
GenBank Submission:
Wacker MJ, JB Tyburski, C Adams, EC Struckoff, EA Lundquist, and JA Orr. Partial cloning of the
rabbit thromboxane A2 receptor. Accession # AY275428. Submitted 04/11/03; Revised 04/10/05.
Abstracts/Presentations:
Wacker MJ, RN Tehrani, and JA Orr. Thromboxane A2 (TXA2) elicits a vagally mediated cardiovascular
reflex from the heart. FASEB J. 13: A445, 1999.
Wacker MJ, RL Smoot, and JA Orr. The thromboxane A2 mimetic, U46619, stimulates chemosensitive
cardiac vagal sensory nerve fibers. FASEB J. 14: A376, 2000.
Orr JA, MJ Wacker, and RN Tehrani. Bradycardia induced by thromboxane A2 is due to stimulation of
cardiac afferent nerves. FASEB J. 14: A376, 2000.

Wacker MJ, HL Wilhelm, and JA Orr. 5-HT3 receptor blockade does not inhibit thromboxane A2-
induced stimulation of chemosensitive, cardiac, vagal, afferent nerve fibers. FASEB J. 15:
A1149, 2001.
Orr JA, MJ Wacker, RL Smoot, HL Wilhelm, and EB Malone. Characterization of thromboxane A2-
induced arrhythmias in the anesthetized rabbit. FASEB J. 15: A1149, 2001.
Wacker MJ, SG Gomez, and JA Orr. The role of the 5-HT3 receptor in the thromboxane A2 and 5-HT-
induced coronary chemoreflex. FASEB J. 16: A829, 2002.
Richmond SR, SA Whitman, MJ Wacker, and MP Godard. Identification of angiotensin II sub-type 2
receptor mRNA in human skeletal muscle. FASEB J. 18: A749, 2004.
Best SR, MJ Wacker, CJ Stachura, and JA Orr. Role of the autonomic neurvous system in thromboxane
A2 induced arrhythmias. FASEB J. 18: A1074, 2004.
Godard MP, Wacker MJ, Whitman SA, and Richmond SR. Skeletal muscle ubiquitin ligase gene
expression in heart failure patients. FASEB J. 19: A119, 2005.
McCabe EH, Wacker MJ, Richmond SR, Donnelly JE, and Godard MP. Association of ACE gene I/D
polymorphism with body mass index (BMI). FASEB J. 19: A1131, 2005
Richmond SR, Wacker MJ, Whitman SA, Touchberry C, and Godard MP. Age related changes in
expression of real-time PCR housekeeping genes. FASEB J. 19: A1574, 2005
Roberts JE, Wacker MJ, Tehel MM, Rosso F, McEchron CA, Donnelly JE, and Godard MP. Association
of the 5HT2A and 5HT2C promoter polymorphisms with body mass index (BMI). FASEB J 19:
2005.
Wacker MJ and Godard MP. Comparison of reaction efficiencies of one-step vs. two-
step real-time RT-PCR. FASEB J. 19: A264, 2005.
Whitman SA, Wacker MJ, Richmond SR, Godard MP. Contributions of the ubiquitin-proteosome
pathway and apoptosis to skeletal muscle wasting with age. FASEB J. 19: A1575, 2005.
Osterhaus GL, Wacker MJ, McKerchar TL, Roberts JE, and Fowler SC. Locomoter activity and operant
task acquisition in 5-HT2c receptor knockout mice. Program No. 688.15 Abstract
Viewer/Itinerary Planner, Washington DC. Society for Neuroscience. 2005.
Tehel MM, Wacker MJ, Roberts JE, Donnelly JE, and Godard MP. Lack of association of a 5-HT1B
promoter polymorphism with body mass index. FASEB J. 2006
Hanke JJ, Wacker MJ, Ammar CP, Riley MP, and Orr JA. Cultured nodose ganglia neurons co-
express thromboxane A2 receptor and TRPV1 mRNA. FASEB J. 2006
Kosloski LM, Best SR, Wacker MJ, Porter CB, and Orr JA. Further investigation of thromboxane A2
induced arrhythmias. FASEB J. 2006
Wacker MJ, Tehel MM, McCabe EH, Huenergardt RN, Gallagher PM. Analysis of gene expression
directly from single muscle fibers using real-time RT-PCR. FASEB J. 2007

Howard TE, Gilbert WJ, Hanke JJ, Wacker MJ, Orr JA. Characterization of thromboxane receptor
expression in cultured sensory neurons. FASEB J. 2007
Kosloski LM, Moody CD, Orr JA, Wacker MJ. 2-APB attenuates thromboxane A2-induced arrhythmias.
FASEB J. 2007.
Kosloski LM, Gilbert WJR, Orr JA, Moore D, Wacker MJ.2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) and
gentamicin inhibit thromboxane A2 induced calcium responses in cardiac myocytes. FASEB J.
2008.
Gallagher P, Tehel M, McCabe E, Gandy N, Wacker M. Effects of resistance exercise on fiber-type
specific Glut4 and insulin-like growth factor-I receptor expression in human skeletal muscle.
FASEB J. 2008.
Touchberry CD, Stone JK, Schaller SE, Patel KS, Wacker MJ. Thromboxane A2 Induces Hypertrophic
Fetal Gene Expression in Isolated Cardiac Ventricular Muscle. American Society of Exercise
Physiologists, April 2009; Wichita Falls, TX.
Touchberry CD, Stone JK, Brotto LS, Brotto MP, Wacker MJ. Alterations in Skeletal Muscle Contractile
Force Following Acute Exposure to Thromboxane A2. Experimental Biology, April 2009; New
Orleans, LA
Wacker MJ, Touchberry CD, Rohrberg T, Qu C-K, Brotto MP. The Effects of Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-
bisphosphate on Cardiac Muscle. Experimental Biology, April 2009; New Orleans, LA.
Teaching Experience:
Biology 102 Lab: (1997)
3 labs per week with approximately 10 students per lab. This course was designed to teach basic
biological concepts to non-biology major students.
Biology 306/646: Human/Mammalian Physiology Lab: (1998-2001)
3 labs per week of approximately 12 students each. The 306 course included students typically
majoring in pre-nursing, pre-physical therapy, or human biology. The 646 course is an upper
division level course that included students that were pre-medicine, pre-pharmacy, or that were
satisfying biology degree requirements.
Training new personnel to teach Biol 306/646- (2000)
Training lab giving a pre-lab lecture and demonstrating techniques for using the equipment and
teaching the lab as well as answering questions for the new GTAs.
Graduate Teaching Assistant Biology 150: Principles of Molecular and Cellular Biology: (1999-
2001) The typical class size was approximately 500 students. My responsibilities for the class
included: giving weekly review sessions, maintaining the class web page, helping to prepare
exams, presenting lectures when the major professor was out of town, holding office hours.
Biol 150: Principles of Cellular and Molecular Biology (2003)
This course was sponsored by minority programs in the division of biological sciences and was
designed to give students a small class atmosphere (35 students) in their first biology class in
order to help them succeed in the sciences.

Biol 435- Introduction to Neurobiology (2003)
This course covered topics that included: cell biology of the neuron, action potentials,
neurotransmission, neurotransmitters, sensory and motor systems, neuroanatomy, and diseases of
the nervous system.
Biol 420: Seminar in Bioinformatics (2003-2004)
I created this seminar to introduce students to computer technology which is available to assist in
biological studies. Using bioinformatics internet-based tools, students were able to determine
such things as gene structure, protein structure, mutations, polymorphisms, etc. for genes linked
to diseases.
Biol. 646: Mammalian Physiology (2003-2006)
I was responsible for teaching the neurophysiology and respiratory physiology sections of the
course. This class was designed for senior level undergraduate students, graduate students, as
well as students receiving their Master’s Degree in Nurse Anesthesiology.
Biol 418: Research Design and Methods Course (2004-2007)
I have designed and created this course as an introductory research experience for undergraduate
students beginning research in scientific laboratories. This course is a hands-on research
experience in which students learn about research ethics, basic molecular biology techniques,
how to formulate and test hypothesis, how to collect and analyze data, and how to present data.
ANESTH 5556-5557: Physiology for Anesthesiologist Assistants (2008-present)
Course designed to teach physiology to students obtaining a Master’s in Anesthesiology. I was
responsible for teaching pulmonary, cardiovascular, and endocrine sections.
MEDIC 9703 (2008-present)
4 credit research elective for Medical School Students.
Mentored undergraduate students- Post-graduation
Roya Tehrani- University of Kansas Medical School
Rory Smoot- Mayo Clinic Medical School
Jason Williams- University of Kansas Medical School
Heather Wilhelm- University of Kansas Medical School
Blair Malone- University of Texas at Houston Medical School
Suzanne Gomez- University of Chicago Medical School
Chris Adams- Stanford University Medical School
Chad Ammar- University of Kansas Medical School
Shaun Best- University of Kansas Medical School
Felipe Rosso- University of Kansas Medical School
Chris McCechron- University of Iowa Physical Therapy School
Chris Stachura- University of Utah graduate education program
Justin Hanke- New York University Medical School
Megan Riley- University of Colorado Medical School
Jordan Roberts- University of Kansas Medical School
Michelle Tehel- St. Mary’s School of Nursing
Everlee McCabe- Physical therapy assistant
Tessa Howard- University of Kansas Medical School
Christian Moody- University of Kansas Medical School
Cori Anderson- University of Kansas Medical School
Lisa Kosloski- University of Nebraska Medical Center Graduate School

Ian Bales- Medical College of Wisconsin Graduate School
William Gilbert- current student
Mentored Medical School Students:
Anisha Rastogi (UMKC)- 2007-2008
Stephanie Schaller (UMKC)- 2007-present
Krushangi Patel (UMKC)- 2008-present
Mani Javvaji (UMKC)- 2009-present
Omer Mirza (UMKC)- 2009-present
Seo-Hun (UMKC)- 2009-present
Research Assistants:
Lisa Kosloski- 2007-2008
Ian Bales- 2008-present
Post-doctoral Researchers
Chad Touchberry- 2008-present