• B.A., Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbuilt University, Nashville, TN, 1982-1986
• M.S., Chemistry, College of Science, Murray State University, Murray, KY, 1986-1989
• Ph.D., Veterinary Anatomy, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 1989-1996

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT:

• Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, Murray State University, Murray, KY, Aug 1986 - August 1989
• Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, August 1989 - August 1996
• IRTA Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology, National Institute of Digestion, Diabetes and Kidney, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, August 1996 - August 1997
• Staff Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of Genetics and Physiology, National Institute of Digestion, Diabetes and Kidney, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, August 1997 - March 2000
• Assistant Professor, F21C program, Animal Science Research Center, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000-2006
• Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 2006-present

HONORS:

• Ad hoc Reviewer, Biology of Reproduction, 2002-present
• Ad hoc Reviewer, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2003-present
• Ad hoc Reviewer, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

FUNDED RESEARCH (last 3 years):

• The role of Bcl-x in Murine Spermatogenesis (R03 HD042061-01A1 National Institutes of Health $100,000 / 2 yrs), PI
• eNOS: Metabolism and Vascular Biology in Health and Disease (R24 RR018276-01 National Institutes of Health $2,412,284 / 5 yrs), PI
• National Center for Research Resources, Operation of the National Swine Research and Resource Center, (U42 National Institutes of Health $7,101,140 / 5 yrs), Co-I
• Immune Tolerance in the Newborn Mouse (R21 AI062796-01A1 National Institutes of Health $183,134 / 2 yrs), Co-PI

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2000-present
• Society for the Study of Reproduction, 2001-present
• International Embryo Transfer Society, 2001-present
• Endocrine Society, 2001-present

SELECTED RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS:

• Wagner KU, Krempler A, Qi Y, Park K, Henry MD, Triplett AA, Riedlinger G, Rucker EB III, Hennighausen L: Tsg101 is essential for cell growth, proliferation, and cell survival of embryonic and adult tissues. Mol Cell Biol 23:150-162, 2003.
• Thomson JT, Rucker EB III, Piedrahita JA: Identification of mutant loxP sites that favor insertion over deletion. Genesis 36:162-167, 2003.
• Thompson WE, Asselin E, Branch A, Stiles JK, Sutovsky P, Lai L, Im GS, Prather RS, Isom SC, Rucker EB III, Tsang BK: Regulation of prohibitin expression during follicular development and atresia in the mammalian ovary. Biol Reprod, Mar 27, 2004 (epub ahead of print).
• Mao J, Smith MF, Rucker EB III, Wu GM, McCauley TC, Cantley TC, Prather RES, Didion BA, Day BN: Effect of epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor I on porcine preantral follicular growth, antrum formation, and stimulation of granulosa cell proliferation and suppression of apoptosis in vitro. J Anim Sci 82:1967-1975, 2004.
• Hon H, Rucker EB III, Jacob J: Bcl-xl is critical for dendritic cell survival in vivo. J Immunol 173-4425-4432, 2004.
• Takehara T, Tatsumi T, Kanazawa Y, Rucker EB III, Hennighausen L, Suzuki T, Ninushi M, Miyagi T, Hori M, Hayashi N: Hepatocyte-specific disruption of Bcl-xL leads to spontaneous and continuous hepatocyte apoptosis and modest liver fibrogenic responses: A link between apoptosis and fibrosis. Gastroenterology 127:1189-1197, 2004.
• Isom Sc, Prather RS, Rucker EB III: Heat stress-induced apoptosis in porcine in vitro fertilized and parthenogenetic preimplantation stage embryos. Mol Repr Dev, 2006 (in press)
• Hao YH, Yong HY, Murphy CN, Wax D, Samuel M, Rieke A, Lai L, Liu Z, Durtschi DC, Welbern VR, Price EM, McAllister RM, Turk JR, Laughlin MH, Prather RS, Rucker EB III: Production of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) over-expressing piglets. Transgenic Research, 2006 (in press).