Biography

2015-present

Research Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame

2009-2015

Research Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame

2003-2009

Applied Biosystems (AB Sciex), Mass-Spectrometry-Proteomics Group

2005

Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Texas A&M University

1997

B.S. in Microbiology, University of Iowa

Research Interests

We are primarily interested in developing and exploiting novel approaches to identify and characterize the components of secreted proteins from virulent microorganisms. We heavily utilize the 'awesome power of genetics' coupled with state-of-the art quantitative proteomics to enrich, identify and quantify the proteins responsible for biological phenotypes. We have ongoing projects in pathogenic mycobacteria, protein translation in E. coli through the PTRN, and quantitative protein secretion measured using capillary electrophoresis. One example is described below.

Mycobacteria, the causative agent of tuberculosis, like most organisms secretes proteins for biochemical functions. Secreted proteins are a proteome of 'target'-enriched material which contains virulence-factors, antigenic-determinants, and targets for treatment/detection. EsxA and EsxB (ESAT-6 and CFP10) are essential virulence factors exported by mycobacteria and other Gram positive pathogens. Identification of proteins that are required for effective synthesis and secretion of these crucial virulence determinants has been hindered by a lack of saturating genetic screens; high-throughput biochemical detection, and accurate quantification of disease phenotypes. We designed orthogonal antibody-free assays using a slew of proteogenetic approaches to comprehensively dissect the individual contribution of gene products towards a functioning disease secretion system (ESX-1) in pathogenic mycobacterium. This framework is highly extensible to the analysis of other pathogen and protein secretion systems, and has uncovered novel genes, pathways, and crosstalk among secretion systems.

Recent Papers

• Williams, E. A.; Medie, F. M.; Bosserman, R. E.; Johnson, B. K.; Reyna, C.; Ferrell, M. J.; Champion, M. M.; Abramovitch, R. B.; Champion, P. A. "A Nonsense Mutation in Mycobacterium marinum That Is Suppressible by a Novel Mechanism." Infect. Immun. 2017, 85, e00653-16.
• Westphal, L. L.; Sauvey, P.; Champion, M. M.; Ehrenreich, I. M.; Finkel, S. E. "Genomewide Dam Methylation in Escherichia coli during Long-Term Stationary Phase." Msystems 2016, 1, UNSP e00130.
• Braselmann, E.; Chaney, J. L.; Champion, M. M.; Clark, P. L. "DegP Chaperone Suppresses Toxic Inner Membrane Translocation Intermediates." PLOS One 2016, 11, e0162922.
• Reyna, C.; Medie, F. M.; Champion, M. M.; Champion, P. A. "Rational engineering of a virulence gene from Mycobacterium tuberculosis facilitates proteomic analysis of a natural protein N-terminus." Sci. Rep.  2016, 6, 33265.
• Sun, L.; Champion, M. M.; Huber, P. W.; Dovichi, N. J. "Proteomics of Xenopus development." Mol. Hum. Reprod. 2016, 22, 193-199.
• Champion, M. M.; Sheppard, A. D.; Rund, S. S. C.; Freed, S. A.; O'Tousa, J. E.; Duffield, G. E. "Qualitative and Quantitative Proteomics Methods for the Analysis of the Anopheles gambiae Mosquito Proteome." Short Views on Insect Genomics and Proteomics, Vol 2: Insect Proteomics 2016, 4, 37-62.

>> See full list of publications at PubMed >>