Michael O’Connor’s career has been all about growth and change. As professor and Ordway Chair in Developmental Biology, the newly retired GCBD faculty member made paradigm-shifting contributions to understanding biochemical pathways that transform living things from an undifferentiated ball of cells to a complex, coordinated system of organs and functions. As department chair from 2009 to 2019, he nurtured the professional development of colleagues. And, over the decades, he has helped countless students grow their own careers as well.
O’Connor’s own career pathway began with what he calls “a genetic connection” to science. His mother taught junior college chemistry, and his dad was a research chemist. “I worked in his lab for several years in high school, he says. “I really got enamored with the whole process.”
As an undergraduate at Brown University, that fascination led him down the path of inorganic chemistry. But then took a class in molecular genetics. “It opened my eyes to the chemistry of life,” he says. “I became a biochemistry major.”
Later, as a graduate student at Tufts University, O’Connor found yet another developmental pathway opening up. It was the early 1980s. and the field of embryology was shifting from observing embryonic development to characterizing the genetics that underpins it. When he learned through a departmental seminar series that it was becoming possible to clone and study individual genes, “I said, ‘that’s what I’m going to do.’”
A stint as a postdoc at Harvard Medical School focused O’Connor’s attention on the role of transcription regulation in differentiation. That in turn led him to UC Irvine, where his research focused on studying the genetic basis for differentiation in Drosophila. A decade later, the University of Minnesota came calling, and he ended up being offered and accepting Ordway Chair in Developmental Biology in 1997.
At the U of M, O’Connor not only continued his research and teaching, but also served as department chair from 2009 to 2019.
“Recruiting young faculty and making sure they get a good start, that is rewarding,” he says. “You feel like you had a little influence on shaping the direction of the department. I’m proud of what I was able to contribute.”
Looking back his research career, three things stand out for O’Connor. One is his lab’s role in the early 2000s in elucidating the biochemical pathway and associated genes responsible for the synthesis of a key steroid mediating development in insects. Another is unraveling the mechanism that consolidates various environmental and physiological signals to fire the starting-line gun for complete metamorphosis in holometabolous insects. The third, and perhaps most significant in his mind, was collaborating with University of Minnesota mathematics professor Hans Othmer and others to use mathematics to figure out how morphogens influence the direction development takes in different tissues.
“When I started, it was basically finding the genes that control development, then cloning them, then doing some biochemistry to try to understand how they fit together. But these days, you have to understand the whole network and how it works,” O’Connor says. “Big data is where it’s at.”
As much as he loves doing the science, O’Connor appreciates the opportunity to contribute to others’ growth and development, too. All told, he has advised or mentored more than 45 undergraduate and graduate students, 21 postdoctoral fellows and 10 research associates and technicians over the years and it these individuals, he says, that “deserve most of the credit for what I accomplished scientifically, since they did all the work and it was a real joy having them in my lab.”.
“Mike continually inspired me with his spirit of exploration,” says Xueyang Pan, who was a graduate student and later postdoctoral fellow in O’Connor’s lab from 2013 to 2020. “He showed me that discovery isn't just about data—it’s about curiosity, persistence, and the freedom to follow where your passion leads. Whether in science or in life, he exemplified the importance of doing what you truly love. This belief became a compass for me during my training, and it continues to shape how I approach both science and life today.”
Although he formally retired at the end of 2024, O’Connor is not done. He’s preparing to present a paper at an international insect hormone meeting in Copenhagen in June that will integrate much of his recent work into a start-to-finish understanding of final project that links specific signals in the brain with coordinating neuron proliferation, animal behavior and completion of metamorphosis , , a sort of grand finale and torch-passing all in one.
“Various projects we've worked on over the years, we're trying to link them all together,” he says. “We'll do it at least enough to, I hope, stimulate curiosity in others to continue to try to understand them in more depth. That's my goal.” — Mary Hoff