Dr. Ramsey's lab focuses on understanding how disease-causing bacteria control gene expression. This is important because disease-causing bacteria have developed ways in which they can manipulate their host organism through infection and taking control of the hosts' defenses. This is seen in several human diseases.

One species of pathogens the Ramsey lab studies currently is Francisella. Certain Francisella strains are causative agents of the disease tularemia in humans and infections with high disease rates in fish. Researching this species of pathogen is important because not much in-depth information is currently known about the pathogen and it's molecular specifics as to how it damages its host successfully.

There are both graduate and undergraduate students working in the lab. Undergraduate tasks include lab skills like modifying or removing genes in bacteria, microbiology techniques, using next generation sequencing, and most importantly making both genetic and microbial analyses.

The major lab interests are:

To uncover the mechanisms that allow Francisella pathogens to express the appropriate genes, at the right time, in the diverse environments they thrive in.

To understand 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.

If interested, best to contact through email: kramsey@uri.edu