Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

Training & Education

Dr. Murray received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Vermont in 2000 with Douglas Johnson and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire in 1988. Her graduate research on the Cdc42 GTPase in S. pombe lead to isolation of a novel protein involved in vacuolar fusion and added to the evidence of the role for Cdc42p in vesicle trafficking. For postdoctoral research, she studied the molecular mechanisms of aberrant V(D)J recombination associated with clinically important oncogenic rearrangements in pediatric cancers with Dr. Barry Finette in the Pediatrics Department in the College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

Dr. Murray joined the faculty in the Department of Biology and the Vermont Genetics Network in 2006. Her roles in the Vermont Genetic Network included Director of Outreach from 2010-2015 and Director of Professional Development and Education from 2015-2017.  She developed curricula and was an invited instructor at 9 different liberal art colleges in Vermont. 
She inspired a diverse group of students to enter biomedical careers and assisted college faculty in their research and professional development. Dr. Murray joined the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2017.

Teaching

Undergraduate Education and Advising in MMG:

Courses Taught:

• MMG001 : First-Year Colloquium 
• MMG 002 (SU):  Unseen Worlds: Microbes and You
• MMG 106: Introduction to Biomedical Research Methods
• MMG 201: Molecular Cloning Laboratory
• MMG 223: Immunology
• MMG 227: Cancer Genetics
• MMG 299 Senior Seminar

Advisor:

Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Undergraduate Majors and CALS Honor's College Undergraduates

Featured Publications

Murray JM, Driscoll HE, Pivarski K. 2018. Connecting human disease phenotype to genetic mutation and protein function: A modular data mining short course with an independent project sequence for lecture or lab. Genetics Society of America Peer-Reviewed Education Portal (GSA PREP). Accepted.

Murray JM, Pivarski K, Hunter T. 2016. Two complementary methods for genotyping taste receptor TAS2R38 in humans. Genetics Society of America Peer-Reviewed Education Portal (GSA PREP): 2016.002; doi:10.1534/gsaprep.2016.002

Murray JM, Messier T, Rivers J, O’Neill JP, Walker VE, Vacek PM and Finette BA. 2012. V(D)J recombinase-mediated T-cell receptor β locus usage and processing in peripheral T-cells during perinatal and pediatric development. Journal of Immunology, 189: 2356-2364.

Tighe S, Hunter T, Reed P, and Murray J. 2011. Microarray Analysis for Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), 50, e2585, DOI : 10.3791/2585.

Murray JM, O’Neill JP, Walker VE, Messier T, Rivers J, McGonagle B, Trombley L, Cowell L, Kelsoe G, McBlane F and Finette BA. 2006. V(D)J recombinase-mediated processing of coding junctions at cryptic recombination signal sequences in peripheral T-cells during human development. Journal of Immunology, 177: 5393-5404.

Murray JM, and Johnson DI. 2001. The Cdc42p GTPase and its regulators Nrf1p and Scd1p are involved in endocytic trafficking in the fission yeast S. pombe. J. Biol. Chem., 276: 3004-3009.

All Murray publications