Rate My Professor Josh Ramsay

Ramsay's research investigates horizontal gene transfer facilitated by mobile genetic elements, focusing on antibiotic resistance evolution, bacterial nitrogen fixation, and plant-associated bacteria. His laboratory explores the biology and regulation of these elements in health and agricultural contexts. Major funding includes the ARC Future Fellowship ($780,000, 2018) for harnessing horizontal gene transfer for sustainable nitrogen fixation, NHMRC Project Grant ($735,585, 2017) as Chief Investigator B on redefining antibiotic resistance plasmid transfer in Staphylococcus aureus, ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities grant ($700,000, 2017) as Chief Investigator, and Marsden Fund ($750,000 NZD, 2017) as Associate Investigator. Awards encompass the Frank Fenner Award from the Australian Society for Microbiology (2023) and the 2015 Curtin Faculty of Health Sciences Publication Award for Highest Impact Factor publication. Key publications include 'Assembly and transfer of tripartite integrative and conjugative elements' (PNAS, 2016), 'Origin-of-transfer sequences facilitate mobilisation of non-conjugative antimicrobial resistance plasmids in Staphylococcus aureus' (Nucleic Acids Research, 2015), 'An epigenetic switch activates bacterial quorum sensing and autolysis' (Nucleic Acids Research, 2022), 'DUF2285 is a novel helix-turn-helix domain variant that orchestrates excision and transfer of an integrative conjugative element' (Nucleic Acids Research, 2023), and 'Genomic characterization of a unique Panton-Valentine leukocidin-positive methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus lineage' (Microbial Genomics, 2023).