Jean-Michel Ané

5303 Microbial Sciences Building
Departments of Bacteriology and Agronomy
1550 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
USA
Office: 608-262-6457
Lab:     608-890-0155

Education
B.S.       University of Lyon (France)            Molecular and Cellular Biology                1995
M.S.      University of Toulouse (France)      Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology        1997
Ph.D.     University of Toulouse (France)      Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology        2002​

Professional Experience
2014-present    Full Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2010-2014       Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
2004-2010       Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2002-2004       Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Davis
1998-2002       Teaching and Research Assistant, University of Toulouse

Patents
Ané JM, Wiley-Kalil A, Maeda J. Chitin Oligomers for use in promoting non-leguminous plant growth and development. Patent accepted in 2018.

Ané JM, Kiss GB, Penmetsa RV, Dénarié J, Cook DR. A gene controlling the establishment of rhizobial and mycorrhizal symbioses, United States Patent Application Publication No. 20050081262 published April 14, 2005.​

Honors and Awards
2017, Kellett Mid-Career Award
2015, Vilas Faculty Mid-Career Investigator Award
2014, Rothermel Bascom professorship of Agronomy
2009, Honored Instructors Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison
1997, 'Agrégation'and CAPET in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Physiology, French National Education, Competitive Entry in the French National Education System for permanent teaching positions.
1996-1993, ENS-Lyon fellow, French National Education, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon.

Funding
National Science Foundation (NSF) -Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP)
National Science Foundation (NSF) - Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Hatch
Department of Energy (DOE)
Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board (WSMB)
Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN)
John Innes Centre (JIC) - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
University of California Davis - Mars Inc.

Professional Activities  
Member of the UW-Madison Symbiosis Cluster steering committee (2005 - now).

​Associate Chair of the Agronomy Department (2012 – 2015). Chair of the Agronomy Building Committee (2006 – 2015). Served in various departmental committees for the Agronomy and Bacteriology departments.

Member of the Research Advisory Committee for the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) (2011 - 2015).

Served on the UW Madison - Sophomore Research Fellowship Review Committee (2017 - now) and Wisconsin Crop Improvement Center (WCIC) Advisory Committee (2016 – now).

Panel member for the USDA-NRI Biology of Plant-Microbe Associations (2006), the NSF-GRFP (2007) Panel member for the USDA-NRI Biology of Plant-Microbe Associations (2006), the NSF-GRFP (2007) and the US Department of Energy (2009).

Grant proposal reviewer for the US National Science Foundation (NSF-IOS and NSF-MCB), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Department of Energy (DOE BER, BES and GLBRC), the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Earth and Life Sciences section), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the “Fonds de Recherche du Quebec Nature et Technologies” (FRQNT), the European Research Council (ERC), the French National Research Agency (ANR), the Danish Council for Independent Research, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Monitoring Editor for Plant Physiology (2018 - now), Associate Editor Plant & Cell Physiology (2017 - now), Associate Editor for Frontiers in Plant Sciences and Frontiers in Microbiology (2014 - 2017).

Article reviewer for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), Trends in Plant Sciences, Trends in Cell Biology, The Plant Cell, Annals of Botany, FEBS Letters, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (MPMI), New Phytologist, Nature, Nature Plants, Mycorrhiza, BioEnergy Research, Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, The Plant Journal, Plant Physiology, Plant Science, Plant and Soil, Plant Cell and Environment, Plant Cell and Physiology, Physiologia Plantarum, BioMed Central Plant Biology, BioMed Central Biology, BioMed Central Genomics, American Journal of Botany, Genetics, Symbiosis, Frontiers in Plant Science, Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, Journal of Plant Physiology, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, African Journal of Agricultural Research, Current Opinion in Plant Biology (COPB), Nature Review Microbiology, and Wiley Editions.

Member of Scientific Advisory Boards (SAB) for Pivot Bio, Inc. (http://pivotbio.com/ ) and Valent Biosciences (https://www.valentbiosciences.com/ ).

Teaching and Training
Teaches a course biennially on The Microbiome of Plants, Animals, and Humans (MICROBIO/BOTANY/ANIMAL SCI 335) with three two 50-minute lectures per week since 2017.

Teaches a course on Plant Biotechnology Principles and Techniques (AGRONOMY/HORTICULTURE/BOTANY 339) including two 75-minute lectures per week and two 3-hour laboratory sessions per week. Taught annually from 2005 to 2015 and biennially since 2017.

Taught graduate student seminars: AGRONOMY/HORTICULTURE 957 in 2005 and 2011 as well as AGRONOMY 920/HORTICULTURE 910 in 2014.

Invited lectures on plant – microbe symbioses for:
  • BIOCHEMISTRY/BOTANY/GENETICS 840 (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
  • MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY & IMMUNOLOGY 677 (2005 and 2007)
  • BOTANY / HORTICULTURE / SOIL SCIENCES 626 (2006)
  • PLANT PATHOLOGY 505 (2007)
  • BIOLOGY 150 (2007, 2008, 2009)
  • MICROBIOLOGY/ONCOLOGY 545 (2009, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018)
  • MICROBIOLOGY 710 (2009, 2011, 2014)
  • BOTANY 860 (2010, 2012, 2014)
  • MICROBIOLOGY/PLANT PATHOLOGY/GENETICS/BOTANY/MMI 655 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016)
  • GENETICS 566 (2015).
  • BOTANY/PLANT PATHOLOGY 332 (2015)
  • BIOCHEMISTRY/BOTANY 621 (2013, 2015, 2017)
  • SOIL SCIENCE 523 (2017, 2018)

Outreach
Organized outreach activities for the Wisconsin Soybean Marketing Board, the Wisconsin Crop Improvement Association, the Family Horticulture day, the Organic Field Day, the Science Expeditions, Darwin day Tree of Life Explorations, Martin Luther King Day of Service, the French-American Science Festival (Chicago), Middle School Science Symposium, the Wisconsin Science Festival, the Madison Middle School Science Symposium, PLATO Frontiers in Life Sciences, Wednesday Nite @ The Lab, the Latino Senior Financial Aid Night, the Jr. MANNRS Leadership Institute, and the Madison Children’s Museum.

Membership Information
​American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB)
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
Wisconsin Soybean Association
International Symbiosis Society (ISS)
International Society of Plant Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Media Appearances
Hamilton E. Clean corn. On Wisconsin. 119 (4), 2018.
Crowther K. UW-Madison could be instrumental in changing how corn is grown. TMJ4-TV. October 3, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0q4RPEAD9w
Siers-Poisson J., Martens B. Central Time on Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR). Live from 4:15 pm – 4:30 pm. August 24, 2018.
Groves A. Corn grown in Oaxaca, Mexico, could transform agriculture industry. El Paso Times. August 21, 2018.
Groves A. Revolutionary corn discovery could save fertilizer, limit runoff and transform agriculture. USA Today. August 21, 2018.
Groves A. There are many 'ifs,' but the discovery of corn that fertilizes itself could transform agriculture. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. August 20, 2018.
Blakely R. ‘Crazy' corn could revolutionize farming. The Times. August 18, 2018
Charuchandra S. Image of the Day: Slimy Business. The Scientist. August 13, 2018.
Lee L. Wisconsin Researcher Studies Nitrogen-fixing Corn. Brownfield, Ag news for America. August 10, 2018.
Young E. The Wonder Plant That Could Slash Fertilizer Use. The Atlantic. August 9, 2018.
Hamilton E. Corn that acquires its own nitrogen identified, reducing the need for fertilizer. The Fence Post. August 9, 2018.
Corn variety gets nutrients from bacteria, potentially reducing the need for fertilizer. Phys.org. August 7, 2018.
Otto J. The Lab Report: Benefiting humanity by enhancing plant, fungal relationships. The Badger Herald. March 18, 2018.
Devitt T. Shaping the Future of Farming. Grow. Wisconsin’s Magazine for the Life Sciences. Summer 2017.
Debroise A. Le Nouveau Scenario. Science et Vie. July 2016.
Griffiths S. How algae turned the world green: Ancient slime knew how to survive on land before it left water and evolved into the first plant. DailyMail UK. December 16, 2016.
Krueger-Hadfield S. Pre-adapted algal ancestors colonized land. The Molecular Ecologist. December 5, 2016.
Gauger A. The Origin of Plants Depended on "Pre-adaptation," Another Word for "Preparation". Biologic Institute. October 26, 2015.
Devitt T. Ancestors of land plants were wired to make the leap to shore. Phys.Org. October 5, 2015.
Ancient alga knew how to survive on land before it left water and evolved into the first plant. Science Daily. October 5, 2015.
How plants crawled out of the sea. BBSRC Media. October 5, 2016. Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyCyIOEyL20
Woolston C. Mathematical model helps scientists decide where to submit their papers. Nature. January 29, 2015.
Kampa D. Electronic Lab Notebooks to be made available to researchers. The Daily Cardinal. September 24, 2014.
Ayre J. Conversations Between Plants, Bacteria, And Fungi Explored By New Research. PlanetSave Newsletter. August 31, 2014.
Tenenbaum D. A touching story: Ancient conversation between plants, fungi, and bacteria. Science Daily. August 27, 2014.
Carpenter S. Must a Paper Trail Be Paper? Science, Science Carreers. September 14, 2012.Perdue S. Microbes play a big role for Wisconsin. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. August 23, 2010.

Undergraduate, Graduate and Postdoctoral Trainin
Trained more than 200 UW-Madison undergraduate students for Independent Studies (299), Special Problems (699), capstone experiences, honors theses or affiliated to the Undergraduate Research Scholars (URS) program.

Undergraduate training through Summer Research Programs (Symbiosis SRP and Plant Biology SRP) student which offers training and research experience to undergraduate students from underrepresented groups. These students are coming from other universities.

Graduate training: affiliation to the Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics (PBPG), the Cellular and Molecular Biology (CMB), the Microbiology Doctoral Training Program (MDTP), the Genetics Ph.D. training program, Plant Pathology, Agronomy, and Agroecology graduate programs for which he gives lectures on plant-microbe symbiotic associations. Served on graduate committees for 63 graduate students.
​
Member of the MDTP steering committee in 2008-2010 and 2018 to now. Member of the MDTP recruitment committee from 2016 to now. Member of the Genetics Ph.D. recruitment committee from 2018 to now. Member of the CMB Coordinating Committee from 2018 to now.

Graduate and Postdoctoral Advisors
Jean Dénarié and Charles Rosenberg (Ph.D.  Advisors, INRA Toulouse, France)
Douglas Cook (Postdoctoral Advisor, University of California Davis)

Postdoctoral advisees
5 current post-docs
  • Sanhita Chakraborty (July 2018 – present)
  • Vânia C. Silva Pankievicz (March 2018 – present)
  • Devanshi Khokhani (January 2018 – present)
  • Lucas Gontijo Silva Maia (January 2018 – present)
  • Thomas Irving (December 2017 – present)
11 former post-docs
  • Ray Collier (August 2016 – November 2017) – Now Molecular Services Department Research Manager at the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center
  • Kevin Garcia (January 2014 – September 2017) – Now postdoc at South Dakota State University
  • Matthew Crook (January 2012 – June 2017) – Now Assistant Professor at Weber State University
  • Angel R. Del Valle-Echevarria (January 2015 – December 2015) – Now a postdoc at the University of Hawaii.
  • Dhileepkumar Jayaraman (August 2013 – December 2014) – Now Assistant Scientist in my lab.
  • Pierre-Marc Delaux (November 2011 - November 2014) - Now Researcher (Chargé de Recherches, CR2) at Centre de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France.
  • Muthusubramanian Venkateshwaran (April 2010 – August 2013) - Now Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin - Platteville.
  • Oswaldo Valdés-López (November 2012 - July 2013) Now Associate Professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
  • Arijit Mukherjee (January 2008 – July 2012) - Now Assistant Professor at the University of Central Arkansas.
  • Désirée Den Os (January 2008 – April 2010) - Now Lecturer Molecular, Plant, Biology at Hanzehogeschool Groningen / Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, Netherlands.
  • Kannan Iyyemperumal (September 2005 – September 2006) - Now working for Applied Biotech Industries Inc.

Thesis Advisees and Co-advisees
4 current Ph.D. students and 2 current M.S. students:
  • Michelle Keller-Pearson (Ph.D. expected in 2019, co-advised with Dr. Erin Silva, Cellular and Molecular Biology, UW-Madison)
  • Anthony Bortolazzo (Ph.D. expected in 2019, Genetics, UW-Madison)
  • Zachary Keyser (Ph.D. expected in 2020, Plant Breeding Plant Genetics, UW-Madison)
  • Tomás Rush (Ph.D. expected in 2019, Plant Pathology, UW-Madison)
  • Shivangi Vayla (M.S expected in 2019, Microbiology Doctoral Training Program, UW-Madison) 
  • Lindsay Chamberlain (M.S. expected in 2019, Agronomy, co-advised with Shawn Conley, UW-Madison)
9 former Ph.D. students and 3 former M.S. students:
  • Marian Lund-Bolton (Ph.D. completed in May 2019, Plant Pathology, co-advised with Shawn Conley, UW-Madison). Now postdoc at the University of Minnesota.
  • Shane Bernard (M.S. completed in December 2018, Cellular and Molecular Biology, UW-Madison)
  • Kevin Cope (Ph.D. completed in September 2018, Cellular and Molecular Biology, UW-Madison). Now postdoc at South Dakota State University.
  • David Marburger (Ph.D. completed in February 2016, co-advised with Dr. Shawn Conley, Agronomy, UW-Madison). Now Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University
  • Audrey Wiley-Kalil (Ph.D. completed in May 2015) (Plant Pathology, UW-Madison). Now USDA Plant Pathologist at Williston Research Extension Center.
  • Kari Forshey (M.S. completed in June 2012, Genetics, UW-Madison). Now Academic Editor at American Journal Experts.
  • Dhileepkumar Jayaraman (Ph.D. completed in May 2011) (Plant Breeding Plant Genetics, UW-Madison). Now Assistant Scientist in my laboratory.
  • Li Huey Yeun (Ph.D. completed in May 2011) (Plant Breeding Plant Genetics, UW-Madison).
  • Branden Furseth (M.S. completed in January 2011, co-advised with Dr. Shawn Conley) (Agronomy, UW-Madison). Now at Dow AgroSciences.
  • Muthusubramanian Venkateshwaran (Ph.D. completed in March 2010) (Plant Pathology, UW-Madison). Now Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville.
  • Géraldine Lougnon (Ph.D. completed in May 2007, University of Paris XI, France)
  • Elsa Messinese (Ph.D. completed in May 2007, University of Toulouse, France). Now biology teacher in Toulouse, France.

Language Skills
English and French

Other Interests
Family, camping, backpacking, outdoors