Asha Mary Joseph
Areas of Interest & Expertise
- Bacterial cell biology
- DNA replication and repair
- Bacterial stress responses
- Regulation of mutagenesis
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Fluorescence microscopy
Biography
Asha is a molecular microbiologist studying regulation of cellular processes that lead to mutagenesis and development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria, employing a combination of genetic, chemical and cell biological tools.
She obtained her PhD from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where she investigated evolution of novel metabolic functions under nutrient stress in pathogenic Shigella and non-pathogenic E. coli. During her postdoctoral research at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), she delved further into studying bacterial stress responses, namely DNA damage response using Caulobacter crescentus, a model bacterium with a unique developmental life cycle. Her work uncovered a novel crosstalk between ‘error-free’ nucleotide excision repair and ‘error-prone’ trans lesion synthesis, a finding that has far reaching implications in promoting mutagenesis not just in dormant bacteria where replication is shut-down, but also in post-mitotic mammalian cells.
Prior to joining the university Asha worked as a project scientist at NCBS, during which she contributed to teaching and designing graduate-level courses alongside her academic research.
Outside of teaching and practicing science, she enjoys reading, hiking, road-tripping, and loves experimenting with design, decor and DIYs.
Courses
Laboratory Techniques
Enhances laboratory skills and makes students independent in carrying out laboratory protocols and using instruments.
Publications
- Kamat, A.*, Joseph, A. M.*, Rathour, D., Badrinarayanan, A. (2025). Variability in intrinsic promoter strength underlies the temporal hierarchy of the Caulobacter SOS response induction. PLoS Biology, 23(12):e3003557. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003557 (*co-first author)
- Adhikashreni, I. S.*, Joseph, A. M.*#, Phadke, S., Badrinarayanan, A.# (2025). Live-tracking of replisomes reveals nutrient-dependent regulation of replication elongation rates in Caulobacter crescentus, Current Biology, 35(8):1816 – 1827 http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.009 (* co-first, #co-corresponding author)
- Zhang, C., Joseph, A. M., Casini, L., Collier, J., Badrinarayanan, A., & Manley, S. (2024). Chromosome organization shapes replisome dynamics in Caulobacter crescentus. Nature Communications, 15(1), 3460. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024 – 47849‑6
- Joseph, A. M., Nahar, K., Daw, S., Hasan, M. M., Lo, R., Le, T. B. K., Rahman, K. M. & Badrinarayanan, A. (2022). Mechanistic insight into the repair of C8-linked pyrrolobenzodiazepine monomer-mediated DNA damage. RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 13(12), 1621 – 1633. http://doi.org/10.1039/d2md00194b
- Joseph, A. M., Daw, S., Sadhir, I., & Badrinarayanan, A. (2021). Coordination between nucleotide excision repair and specialized polymerase DnaE2 action enables DNA damage survival in non-replicating bacteria. Elife, 10, e67552. http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67552
- Joseph, A. M., & Badrinarayanan, A. (2020). Visualizing mutagenic repair: novel insights into bacterial translesion synthesis. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 44(5), 572 – 582. http://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuaa023
- Joseph, A. M., Sonowal, R., & Mahadevan, S. (2017). A comparative study of the evolution of cellobiose utilization in Escherichia coli and Shigella sonnei. Archives of Microbiology, 199(2), 247 – 257. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-016‑1299‑0
- Bakkiyanathan, A., Joseph, A. M., Tharani, L., & Malathi, R. (2010). Genistein, the phytoestrogen induces heart-and-soul (has) phenotypes in zebrafish embryo. Journal of Developmental Biology and Tissue Engineering, 2(2), 18 – 22.