Rate My Professor Josh Ramsay

Associate Professor Josh Ramsay is a prominent researcher in bacterial gene regulation and evolution within the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. He earned his PhD in Genetics from the University of Otago in 2008, with a thesis on the regulation of excision and transfer of the Mesorhizobium loti R7A symbiosis island, and a First Class BSc (Hons) in Genetics from the same university in 2004. Ramsay's career includes postdoctoral positions as a Herchel Smith Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge (2008-2011) and a Health Sciences Division Career Development Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago (2011-2013). He joined Curtin University in 2013 as a Lecturer in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in the School of Biomedical Sciences. Promoted to Senior Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences in 2018, he concurrently held an ARC Future Fellowship. In 2024, he advanced to Associate Professor in Curtin Medical School and Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute. He also serves as Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Molecular Sciences at the University of Western Australia since 2018.

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).