Dr Joseph Cross has PhD in genetics from Latrobe University, Melbourne, Australia. His doctoral topic was on marsupial MHC genomics. Following his postgraduate study, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, researching genes involved in prostate cancer. Following his postdoctoral work, he took a position as Lecturer in molecular biology at Holmesglen Institute in Melbourne, Australia, where he pioneered the introduction of DNA barcoding and PBL into post-secondary education in Australia.
He is currently Assistant Professor at the American University of Antigua and is a System Coordinator for CVS1. He is also currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, where his research focusses on diagnosis of TB.
Research Interests
DNA Barcoding: DNA barcoding was first developed by Paul Herbert and others at the University of Guelph in the early 2000s. Since then it has grown in importance as a tool for species identification and conservation. “Just as the unique pattern of bars in a universal product code (UPC) identifies each consumer product, a short “DNA barcode” (about 600 nucleotides in length) is a unique pattern of DNA sequence that can potentially identify any living thing.”( https://www.dnabarcoding101.org/programs/ubp/). Briefly, the workflow involves field collection of biological samples, DNA extraction by standard means, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers specific for barcoding regions in each taxon, bioinformatic processing and analysis of sequence data, species identification, uploading species records to the international Barcode Of Life Database (BOLD) http://aua-dna-barcoding.weebly.com/
CRISPR: Dr Cross is currently working with colleagues from Texas A and M University on an NIH grant to investigate CRISPR technology in diagnosis of TB. Because of TB’s infectious nature and serious symptoms, early accurate diagnosis is important to allow effective treatment and to prevent spread of the infection. Diagnosis, in addition to having a number of technical challenges, has been made more difficult by the fact that the bulk of cases are found in resource poor regions where expensive reagents, equipment and trained personnel may be lacking. CRISPR has the potential to revolutionize TB diagnosis, providing a highly accurate, cheap and rapid diagnosis in regions most affected by TB. We will combine innovative extraction techniques together with isothermal amplification in a one pot reaction which can be conducted by technicians with little or no training.
Selected Publications:
Cross, J., Garard, H., Currie, T. (2018). DNA Bar-coding and PBL in an Australian Postsecondary College. Teaching Science, 65(1).
Chiovitti A, Thorpe F, Gorman C, Cuxson JL, Robevska G, Szwed C, et al. (2019) A citizen science model for implementing statewide educational DNA barcoding. PLoS ONE 14(1): e0208604. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0208604
Cross, J. and James, K. (2019). DNA Barcoding Antigua and Barbuda. In Ekrem, T., Stur, E., Bakken, T., Martin, M. D., & Adamowicz, S. J. (2019). Abstracts from the 8th International Barcode of Life Conference in Trondheim, Norway. Genome, 62(6), iii–iv. https://doi.org/10.1139/gen-2019-0097
Cross, J., Honnavar, P., and Shivaprasad, A, The Antigua and Barbuda DNA Barcoding Educational Project (2022) (accepted for publication). Global Journal of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Update
Research Opportunities for Students and Faculty:
Contact Details:
X 1121, [email protected], office GC18