Michael E. Wright, PhD
Associate Professor · Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
University of Iowa · Carver College of Medicine
michael-e-wright@uiowa.edu · 319-384-1764
About
Michael E. Wright, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He earned his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Washington in Seattle, and completed postdoctoral training in quantitative mass spectrometry and systems biology at the Institute for Systems Biology in the laboratory of Ruedi Aebersold. He joined the University of Iowa faculty in 2008.
The Wright laboratory uses quantitative mass spectrometry and proximity-labeling proteomics to map subcellular protein–protein interaction networks in preclinical models of human disease, with a particular focus on androgen receptor (AR)–driven diseases such as prostate cancer. The lab is interested in how signaling complexes coordinate cellular proliferation, cell death, and differentiation — and in identifying druggable receptors that can selectively trigger latent cell-death pathways or promote growth arrest through differentiation.
Bridging classical biochemistry with modern proteomic platforms, the lab develops novel proximity-labeling enzymes for capturing post-translational modifications in complex matrices, builds reagents and methods that make protein-complex interrogation more reproducible, and applies these tools to mechanistic questions in disease biology.
Training
- Postdoctoral Fellow — Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA. Laboratory of Ruedi Aebersold.
- PhD, Molecular and Cellular Biology — University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Curriculum Vitae
Full CV available upon request — please email michael-e-wright@uiowa.edu.