Research

Experience:

Throughout my undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral career I have worked to become an expert protein crystallographer. X-ray crystallography is an amazing tool for acquiring an understanding of biology. Currently, I am using a variety of tools to determine the molecular basis behind Contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) target cell recognition in Gram-negative bacteria. However, my undergraduate and graduate research focused on transcriptional regulators: how PigR, MglA and SspA regulate virulence gene expression in F. tularensis, how TnrA and GlnR act as transcriptional regulators in B. subtilis, and mechanisms behind the selectivity of MntR, a manganese transport regulator, in B. subtilis.

Publications:

Cuthbert BJ, Burley KH, Goulding CW. Introducingthe new bacterial branch of the RNase A superfamily. RNA Biol: doi:10.1080/15476286.2017.1387710 (2017).

CuthbertBJ, Ross W, Rohlfing AE, Dove SL, Gourse RL, Brennan RG, Schumacher MA.Dissectionof the molecular circuitry controlling virulence in Francisella tularensis. Genes Dev 31 (15): 1549-1560 (2017).

Cuthbert BJ, Brennan RG, Schumacher MA. Structural and biochemical characterizationof the Francisella tularensispathogenicity regulator, Macrophage Locus Protein A (MglA). PLoS 10 (6):e0128225 (2015).

Schumacher MA, Chinnam B, Cuthbert BJ…Structures of regulatory machinery reveal novel molecular mechanismscontrolling B. subtilis nitrogenhomeostasis. Genes Dev 29: 451-464 (2015).

McGuire AM, Cuthbert BJ…Roles of the A and C sites in the manganese-specific activation of MntR. Biochemistry 52: 701-13 (2013).