Girija  Ramakrishnan Degree(s): PhD Graduate School: State University of New York at Stony Brook Primary Appointment: Assistant Professor, Medicine, Infectious Diseases and International Health Research Interests: Iron-uptake mechanisms and Virulence Factors of Francisella tularensis; Microbial Pathogenesis Email Address: gr6q@virginia.edu

Research Description

My major research focus is on mechanisms governing survival and pathogenicity of the bacterium Francisella tularensis, that causative agent of the disease tularemia.  This highly infectious organism may be transmitted by multiple routes including by aerosol and an effective vaccine for the agent does not currently exist.  Iron, a key nutrient, is not readily available to the pathogen within the host environment and our work is geared towards understanding the mechanisms for iron acquisition of iron using a combination of genetic, proteomic and bioinformatic approaches.  We are also interested in bacterial responses to iron and other environmental signals.  Our studies define novel nutrient acquisition mechanisms and may identify suitable targets for development of vaccine and therapeutic strategies. 

Girija Ramakrishnan is an affiliated faculty member of the Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases program.

Selected Publications

Ramakrishnan G, Sen B and Johnson R. Paralogous outer membrane proteins mediate uptake of different forms of iron and synergistically govern virulence in Francisella tularensis tularensis. J. Biol. Chem. 287: 25191-25202, 2012 (PMID:22661710)

Sen B, Meeker A and Ramakrishnan G. The fslE homolog FTL_0439 (fupA/B) mediates siderophore-dependent iron uptake in Francisella tularensis LVS. Inf. Immun. 78(10):4276-4285, 2010 (PMC2950358).

Ramakrishnan G, Meeker A, and Dragulev B. fslE is necessary for siderophore-mediated iron acquisition in Francisella tularensis. J. Bacteriol. 190(15):5353-5361, 2008 (PMCID: PMC2493265).

Sullivan, JT, Jeffery EF, Shannon JD and Ramakrishnan G. Characterization of the siderophore of Francisella tularensis and role of fslA in siderophore production. J Bacteriol 188 (11):3785 -3795, 2006.

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