Educational Background

B.A. Wellesley College 1980
Ph.D. State University of New York, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo 1987

Professional Experience

Program Chair, Biological Sciences  2018-present
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 2007-present
Research Committee Member, East Central Florida Memory Disorder Clinic, 2009-present
Board of Directors, VNA of the Space Coast, 2014-2016
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 2000-2007
Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 1994-2000
Research Scientist, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 1989-1994
NIH Post-Doctoral Fellow, Biology Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 1987-1989

Additional Duties

Director, Premedical Programs, Florida Institute of Technology

Chair, Institutional Biosafety Committee

Selected Publications

Selected Publications

Reynolds, S.D., Gagnon, M.L., Palis, J.D., Grimwade, J.E., Angerer, R.C., and Angerer, L.A. (2020) Regulation of ectoderm differentiation, in Biology of Ectodermata, CRC Press, 86

Leonard, A.C., Rao, P., Kadam, R., and Grimwade, J.E. (2019) Changing perspectives on the role of DnaA-ATP in orisome function and timing regulation. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10:2009

Leonard, A.C., and Grimwade, J.E. (2019) Regulation of replication origin firing. Reference Module in Life Sciences (LIFE/Elsevier) doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-809633-8.12304-0

Leonard, A. C., and Grimwade, J.E. (2019) Chromosome Replication and Segregation, in Encyclopedia of Microbiology, Fourth Edition. T. Schmidt, ed.  Oxford: Elsevior,668-680 doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801238-3.02351-5

 Grimwade, J.E., and Leonard, A.C. (2019) Blocking the trigger: inhibition of the initiation of bacterial chromosome  replication as an antimicrobial strategy. Antibiotics 8:111 doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics8030111

Rao, P., Rozgaja, T.A., Alqahtani, A., Grimwade, J.E., and Leonard, A.C. (2018) Low affinity DnaA-ATP recognition sites in E. coli oriC make non-equivalent and growthrate-dependent contributions to the regulated timing of chromosome replication Frontiers in Microbiology, 9:1673 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01673

Grimwade, J.E., Rozgaja, T.A., Gupta, R., Dyson, K., Rao, P., and Lenard, A.C. (2018) Origin Recognition is the predominant role for DnaA-ATP in initiation of chromosome replication. Nucleic Acids Research 46:6140-6151 http://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gky457

Grimwade, J.E. and Leonard, A.C. (2017) Targeting the bacterial orisome in the search for new antibiotics. Frontiers in Microbiology 8: 2352

Saxena R., Vasudevan S., Patil D., Ashoura N., Grimwade J.E., and Crooke, E. (2015) Nucleotide-induced conformational changes in Escherichia coli DnaA protein are required for bacterial ORC to Pre-RC conversion at the chromosomal origin. IJMS 16:27897-27911

Leonard, A.C., and Grimwade, J.E. (2015) The orisome: structure and function. Front. Microbiol. 6:545. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.00545

Kaur, G., Vora, M.P., Czerwonka, C.A., Rozgaja, T.A., Grimwade, J.E., and Leonard, A.C. (2014) Building the bacterial orisome: high-affinity DnaA recognition plays a role in setting the conformation of oriC DNA, Mol. Microbiol. 91:1148-1163.

Rozgaja, T, Grimwade, J.E, , Iqbal, M., Czerwonka, C., Vora. M., and  Leonard, A.C.  (2011) Two oppositely-oriented arrays of low affinity recognition sites in oriC guide progressive binding of DnaA during E. coli pre-RC assembly, Mol. Microbiol., 82:475-488

Saxena, R., Rozgaja, T., Grimwade, J.E., and Crooke, E. (2011)  Remodeling of nucleoprotein complexes is independent of a mutant AAA+ protein's nucleotide state, J. Biol. Chem., 286:33770-33777 

Leonard, A.C., and Grimwade, J.E. (2011) Regulation of DnaA assembly and activity: taking directions from the genome, Annual Review of Microbiology, 65:19-35

Leonard, A.C., and Grimwade, J.E. (2010) Regulating DnaA complex assembly: it's time to fill the gaps, Curr. Opin. Microbiol., 13:766-772

Leonard, A. C., and Grimwade, J. E. (2010) Chapter 4.4.1, Initiation of DNA Replication. In A. Bck, R. Curtiss III, J. B. Kaper, P. D. Karp, F. C. Neidhardt, T. Nystrm, J. M. Slauch, C. L. Squires, and D. Ussery (ed.), EcoSalEscherichia coli and Salmonella: cellular and molecular biology. http://www.ecosal.org. ASM Press, Washington, DC.

Miller, D.T., Grimwade, J. E., Betteridge, T., Rozgaja, T., Torgue, J.JC., and Leonard, A.C. (2009) Bacterial origin recognition complexes direct assembly of higher order DnaA oligomeric structures, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 106:18479-18484

Grimwade, J.E., and Leonard, A.C. (2009) Initiating chromosome replication in E. coli: it makes sense to recycle. Genes & Dev., 23:1145-1150

Nievera, C., Torgue, J.J.C., Grimwade, J.E., and Leonard, A.C. (2006) SeqA blocking of DnaA-oriC interaction ensures staged assembly of the E. coli pre-RC, Mol. Cell, 24: 581-592.

Madiraju, M.V.V.S., Moomey, M., Neuenschwander, P.F., Muniruzzaman, S., Yamamoto, K., Grimwade, J.E. and Rajagopalan, M. (2006) The intrinsic ATPase activity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis DnaA promotes rapid oligomerization of DnaA on oriC. Mol. Microbiol. 59:18761890

Leonard, A.C., and J.E. Grimwade. (2005) Building a bacterial orisome: emergence of new regulatory features for replication origin unwinding. Mol. Microbiol. 55: 978-485.

McGarry, K.C., V.T. Ryan, J.E. Grimwade and A.C. Leonard (2004) Two discriminatory binding sites in the Escherichia coli replication origin are required for DNA strand opening by initiator DnaAATP. Proc. Natl., Acad. Sci., USA 101: 2811-2816.

Ryan, V.T., J.E. Grimwade, J.E. Camara, E. Crooke and A.C. Leonard (2004) Precise E. coli pre-replication complex assembly is regulated by dynamic interplay between Fis, IHF and DnaA. Mol. Microbiol. 51: 1347-1359.

Research

Some of the questions being studied in our labs are: What proteins bind to the origin of DNA replication? At what time in the cell division cycle to these proteins bind? How is the timing of DNA replication coupled to the growth rate of the cell? How are complexes assembled and disassembled so that replication timing is precisely controlled? In order to answer these questions, we use a combination of biochemical, physiological and genetic techniques. Many of our studies use the extremely well characterized gut bacterium, Escherichia coli. Recently, however, the lab has begun to examine initiation of DNA replication and growth control of other pathogenic bacteria, such as Mycobacteria tuberculosis and Vibrio cholerae. Study of cell cycle control in diverse organisms may reveal fundamental regulatory mechanisms, which will help us understand cell growth in all organisms.