Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow (2014 – 2018) Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
• Ph.D. (2014) Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
• B.Sc. (2004) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA

Research Areas

The goal of the Ramsey lab is to understand how disease-causing bacteria control gene expression. Bacterial pathogens have evolved diverse strategies to live in the host environment, sensing and adapting to their conditions to survive and replicate. We combine cutting-edge approaches and traditional genetic tools to identify the molecular mechanisms which allow the pathogenicity of highly virulent bacteria and in particular, how these bacteria control gene expression to thrive in the host environment.

Our current research focuses two intracellular pathogens that are members of the Francisella genus, F. tularensis and F. noatunensis. The human pathogen F. tularensis is the causative agent of the disease tularemia, is highly infectious, and is considered a potential bioweapon. The emerging fish pathogen F. noatunensis causes a systemic granulomatous infection with high morbidity in a wide variety of host fish. Our understanding of the genetic requirements for survival of these Francisella species in the host is incomplete and we are only beginning to understand the pathways controlling their expression. ­

The Ramsey lab will work to uncover the mechanisms which allow these pathogens to express the appropriate genes, at the right time, in the diverse environments they thrive in. An important topic for human health, understanding the molecular basis of bacterial pathogenicity will only become more important as the rise of antibiotic resistance increases the need for new and effective therapeutics.

Selected Publications

Kambara TK, Ramsey KM, & Dove SL. 2018. Pervasive Targeting of Nascent Transcripts by Hfq. Cell Rep. 23:1543–1552.

Rohlfing AE, Ramsey KM, Dove SL. 2017. Polyphosphate kinase antagonizes virulence gene expression in Francisella tularensis. J. Bact. 200:e00460–17.

Eshraghi A, Kim J, Walls AC, Ledvina HE, Miller CN, Ramsey KM, Whitney JC, Radey MC, Peterson SB, Ruhland BR, Tran BQ, Goo YA, Goodlett DR, Dove SL, Celli J, Veesler D, Mougous JD. 2016. Secreted Effectors Encoded within and outside of the Francisella Pathogenicity Island Promote Intramacrophage Growth. Cell Host Microbe. 20:573-583.

Ramsey KM and Dove SL. 2016. A response regulator promotes Francisella tularensis intramacrophage growth by repressing an anti-virulence factor. Mol Microbiol. 101:688-700.

McFarland KA, Dolben EL, LeRoux M, Kambara TK, Ramsey KM, Kirkpatrick RL, Mougous JD, Hogan DA, Dove SL. 2015. A self-lysis pathway that enhances the virulence of a pathogenic bacterium. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112:8433–8438.

Ramsey KM, Osborne ML, Vvedenskaya IO, Su C, Nickels BE, Dove SL. 2015. Ubiquitous promoter-localization of essential virulence regulators in Francisella tularensis. PLoS Pathog 11:e1004793

Nibau C, Tao L, Levasseur K, Wu H-M, Cheung AY. 2013. The Arabidopsis small GTPase AtRAC7/ROP9 is a modulator of auxin and abscisic acid signalling. J. Exp. Bot. 64:3425–3437.

Yu F, Qian L, Nibau C, Duan Q, Kita D, Levasseur K, Li X, Lu C, Li H, Hou C, Li L, Buchanan BB, Chen L, Cheung AY, Li D, Luan S. 2012. FERONIA receptor kinase pathway suppresses abscisic acid signaling in Arabidopsis by activating ABI2 phosphatase. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109:14693–14698.

Daily JP, Scanfeld D, Pochet N, Le Roch K, Plouffe D, Kamal M, Sarr O, Mboup S, Ndir O, Wypij D, Levasseur K, Thomas E, Tamayo P, Dong C, Zhou Y, Lander ES, Ndiaye D, Wirth D, Winzeler EA, Mesirov JP, Regev A. 2007. Distinct physiological states of Plasmodium falciparum in malaria-infected patients. Nature 450:1091–1095.

de Graaf BHJ, Cheung AY, Andreyeva T, Levasseur K, Kieliszewski M, Wu H-M. 2005. Rab11 GTPase-regulated membrane trafficking is crucial for tip-focused pollen tube growth in tobacco. Plant Cell 17:2564–2579.