Rate My Professor Chris Makaroff

Chris Makaroff, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Miami University, where he joined as an assistant professor in 1989. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Purdue University, and completed a three-year NIH postdoctoral fellowship in Plant Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan. His research interests encompass molecular biochemistry and structural biology, utilizing multi-disciplinary approaches to investigate the relationship between protein structure and biological function, with a focus on plant reproductive processes including meiosis and pollen wall development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Makaroff has published 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, 20 of which include undergraduate co-authors. Key publications include “Isolation and Characterization of SYN1, a RAD21-like Gene Essential for Meiosis in Arabidopsis” (The Plant Cell, 1999), “DEX1, a novel plant protein, is required for exine pattern formation during pollen development in Arabidopsis” (Plant Physiology, 2001), “The Arabidopsis SYN1 cohesin protein is required for sister chromatid arm cohesion and homologous chromosome pairing” (Journal of Cell Science, 2003), and “Ultrastructure of microsporogenesis and microgametogenesis in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. ecotype Wassilewskija (Brassicaceae)” (Protoplasma, 1995). As principal investigator, he obtained nearly $3 million in external research funding from NIH, NSF, and USDA, and $2.2 million as co-principal investigator.