Josh S. Sharp - Department of Biology

2111 Weston Hall
Phone: 906-227-2380
Email: jsharp@nmu.edu

• B.S. Biomedical Sciences, Western Michigan University 1998
• Ph.D. Biological Sciences Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University 2006

Gene regulation in bacteria, medical microbiology, RNA degradation, regulators of bacterial virulence gene expression, and toxin secretion systems.

Research in my laboratory focuses on gene regulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an important opportunistic bacterial pathogen that is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.  P. aeruginosa is also an important cause of hospital acquired infections.  Specifically, I am interested in the role that RNA degrading proteins and regulatory RNAs play in regulating gene expression in this organism. 

 A second research area in my laboratory will focus on Pseudomonas entomophila, an insect pathogen, and how a bacterial two-competent system is involved in P. entomophila survival in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster).  In particular, I am interested in how this two- competent system might be involved in regulating virulence gene expression.

Medical microbiology, virology, and bacterial gene regulation

• Vvedenskaya, IO, Sharp, JS, Goldman ,SR, Kanabar, PN, Livny, J, DOve, SL, Nickels, BE. 2012. Growth phase-dependent control of transcription start site selection and gene expression by nanoRNAs. Genes Dev. 26(13):1498-507.
• Goldman, SR, Sharp, JS, Vvedenskaya, IO, Livny, J, Dove, SL, Nickels, BE. 2011. NanoRNAs prime transcription initiation in vivo.  Molec. Cell. 42(6):817-25.
• Yao, S, Sharp, JS, Bechhofer, DH. 2009. Bacillus subtilis RNase J1 endonuclease and 5' exonuclease activities in the turnover of ermC mRNA.  RNA. 15:2331-2339.
• Sharp, JS, Bechhofer, DH. 2005. Effect of 5'-proximal elements on decay of a model mRNA in Bacillus subtilis. Mol. Microbiol. 57:484-495.