Ralph Seelke

Ralph Seelke is Professor Emeritus of Biology with the University of Wisconsin-Superior. He received his PhD in microbiology from the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in 1981 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the Mayo Clinic until 1983. In 2004 he was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Stanford University Medical School (laboratory of Dr. A. C. Matin), conducting research on evolution. An authority on evolution's capabilities and limitations in producing new functions in bacteria, Dr. Seelke co-authored the science textbook Explore Evolution.

Archives

NDM-1 Superbug the Result of Bad Policies, Not Compelling Evidence for Evolution’s Creative Powers

_{Ralph Seelke
September 8, 2010}

Recently, the media has been discussing the micro-evolution of a new antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria, dubbed the “NDM-1 superbug.” This seems to be a very sad case of one of those things that evolution is pretty good at doing — making small, incremental improvements upon an enzyme through a step-by step process. That, plus the tendency of bacteria to collect multiple antibiotic resistances, makes this gene a real problem. However, it by no means provides evidence for the ability of evolutionary processes to produce new functions within a cell. The problem is that antibiotics are frequently used — and abused. Beta-lactamases, the enzymes that degrade penicillin and penicillin-like antibiotics (they are all characterized by a “beta-lactam” ring) were …

Biology Professor Dishes the Dirt on Bacteria and Microevolution vs. Macroevolution

_{Ralph Seelke
August 24, 2006}

Professor of biology Dr. Ralph Seelke conducts lab research at the University of Wisconsin, Superior, that focuses on what can evolution really do? In this short conversation he explains the difference between microevolution and macroevolution based on his primary research in experimental evolution. His research has resulted in seven presentations at regional or national scientific meetings since 2001 on the capabilities and limitations of evolution in producing new functions in bacteria. …