Ashima Sharma
EDUCATION:
BS: (Zoology honors)
M.S. University, Baroda, India.
MS: (Microbiology) M.S. University, Baroda, India.
Ph.D. (Molecular Genetics and Microbiology), University of Texas at Austin, 2007
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Regulation of hfq by DksA in Shigella flexneri
S. flexneri is a Gram-negative facultative anaerobe responsible for causing the most communicable form of bacillary dysentery known as shigellosis. S. flexneri infects colonic and rectal epithelia of primates and humans, causing the acute mucosal inflammation characteristic of shigellosis. In order to establish infection, S. flexneri must invade epithelial cells, multiply intracellularly and spread intercellularly. Previously in our lab, transposon insertion mutagenesis studies followed by invasion and plaque assay studies lead to the identification of a gene, dksA which was required for the intercellular spread, but not for invasion and intracellular multiplication of S. flexneri in Henle cell monolayer. Studies in other Gram-negative bacteria have shown that DksA acts as a pleiotropic regulator affecting gene expression at both the transcriptional and the translational level, thus affecting various cell functions involved in survival during stress conditions and virulence. My project aims at identifying potential targets of DksA and determining the mode of regulation of those targets by DksA.
PUBLICATIONS / ABSTRACTS:
Iyer, S., Shah, R., Sharma, A., Jendrossek, D., Desai, A. Purification of
Aspergillus fumigatus (Pdf1) Poly(B-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) Depolymerase Using a
New, Single-Step Substrate Affinity Chromatography Method:
Characterization of the PHB Depolymerase Exhibiting
Novel Self-Aggregating Behavior. Journal of Polymers
and the Environment, Vol. 8, No. 4, October 2000.
EMAIL ADDRESS:
ashima@mail.utexas.edu
