Josh Fletcher

Bio

Dr. Fletcher combines molecular genetics with multi-omics techniques to study all aspects of host-pathogen-microbiome biology. He earned his PhD in Genetics at the University of Iowa under Dr. Brad Jones, where he worked on iron homeostasis in Francisella tularensis and how that influences resistance to reactive oxygen species produced by the immune response. He was a UNC CGIBD postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Casey Theriot’s lab at the North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine, where he used metabolomics, transcriptomics, and 16S rRNA sequencing to characterize the influence of Clostridioides difficile toxin-mediated inflammation on pathogen nutrient acquisition and microbiome composition. He then moved to Dr. Ryan Hunter’s lab at the University of Minnesota, where he completed a MinnCResT postdoctoral fellowship and then Cystic Fibrosis Foundation postdoctoral fellowship. There, he studied microbial interactions of two pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus and Fusobacterium nucleatum, in cystic fibrosis airway and gastrointestinal communities. Broadly speaking, Dr. Fletcher is interested in the nutritional and microbial ecology of pathogenic bacteria, and how pathogen-induced inflammation influences community composition and nutrient availability. More specifically, he is interested in the role of cross-feeding interactions and metabolite exchange in influencing pathogen metabolism and virulence factor regulation.