Estelle McGroarty

University Administrator Responsibilities

Assistant Vice President, Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies; Assistant Vice Provost, Libraries Computing and Technology

These roles include:
• Oversight of external funding opportunities that require institutional oversight.
• Oversight of internal grant programs including: the Strategic Partnership Program (SPG), REF Centers, Intramural Research Grants Program (IRGP), a new Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP), and a new Competitive Discretionary Funding Program (CDFP).
• OVPRGS representative to the Council of Research Deans.
• Input on computer and other technology resource needs that promote research and scholarship across campus.
• Input on the Enterprise Business System Program in support of research and scholarship.
• Service as the institutional representative to COS.

Research Interests

Advancing Diversity Through Alignment of Policy and Practices (ADAPP), (co-PI with Provost Kim Wilcox) through this five-year, $3.98 million NSF ADVANCE grant, Michigan State University aims to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

The ADAPP-Advance project is designed to attract, retain and promote the best possible faculty by improving the campus environment for all people.

The initial focus will be on the development and advancement of policies and practices in the Colleges of Engineering, Natural Science, and Social Science. Additional project features include workshops, support for development of mentoring programs, working with diversity officers, and use of an electronic human resource information system.

Gram Negative Outer Membrane Structure
The outer membrane of the Gram negative bacteria provides a protective barrier to hydrophobic and amphophilic, deleterious compounds, including certain classes of antibiotics. A unique glycolipid, lipopolysaccharide, present on the outer surface of this membrane provides part of this protective barrier. Using various techniques, we have investigated the heterogeneity and the composition of the lipopolysaccharides present on different strains of Gram negative bacteria. We have evidence that some species synthesize two chemically distinct classes of lipopolysaccharide with different antigenic reactivity. We have begun to analyze the structural differences of these distinct classes.

Although the outer membrane is relatively impermeable to hydrophobic compounds, it allows passive transport of small hydrophilic molecules. Nutrient and waste compounds must be able to traverse the outer membrane; a class of integral membrane proteins, the porins, form water-filled channels that allow passive diffusion across this membrane. We have analyzed the structure of isolated porins and their function as diffusion channels. By inserting the proteins into artificial membranes, the diffusion of small molecules across the membranes have been measured. Our initial studies have shown that changes in environmental conditions modify the structure of the porin channel, altering its size and the stability of the open state. Our studies suggest that there may be more than one stable open conformation. Molecular modelling analyses of the crystallographically determined structure of the porin is helping us define residues within the channel which stabilize specific conformations. The involvement of such residues will be tested by site-directed mutagenesis.

Representative Publications

Rivera, M., Chivers, T.R., Lam, J.C. and McGroarty, E.J. (1992) Common antigen lipopolysaccharide from Pseudomonas aeruginosa AK1401 as a receptor for bacteriophage A7. Journal of Bacteriology 174, 2407-2411.

Todt, J.C. and McGroarty, E.J. (1992) Effects of pH on bacterial porin structure. Involvement of HIS21 in a pH induced conformational change. Biochemistry 31, 10479-10482.