Michael Welsh
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Michael Welsh received a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and completed an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. His research interests lie at the interface of chemistry and microbiology. At Hamilton, the Welsh lab studies the biosynthesis of polymers that decorate the cell surface of bacteria, focusing on enzymes that build and modify the cell wall of bacterial spores.
Recent Courses Taught
Principles of Chemistry
Biological Chemistry
Antibiotics
Chemical Biology
Distinctions
- Cottrell Scholar Award, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2024
- NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein-NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32), 2016
Select Publications
- Hopkins, M. E.; Yasinov, Z.; Fakler, M. J.; Wilde, G. E.; Wetmore, K. G. Welsh, M. A. "SwsB acts as a muramic-d-lactam cyclase in Bacillus subtilis spore peptidoglycan synthesis." Biochemistry 2025, 64, 3814-3818.
- Tobin, M. J.; Cho, S. Y.; Profy, W.; Ryan, T. M.; Le, D. H.; Lin, C.; Yip, E. Z.; Dorsey, J. L.; Levy, B. R.; Rhodes, J. D.; Welsh, M. A. "Reconstituting spore cortex peptidoglycan biosynthesis reveals a deacetylase that catalyzes transamidation." Biochemistry 2023, 62, 1342-1346.
- Welsh, M. A.; Schaefer, K.; Taguchi, A.; Kahne, D.; Walker, S. “Direction of chain growth and substrate preferences of shape, elongation, division, and sporulation family peptidoglycan glycosyltransferases.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 12994-12997.
- Welsh, M.A.; Taguchi, A.; Schaefer, K.; Van Tyne, D.; Lebreton, F.; Gilmore, M. S.; Kahne, D.; Walker, S. “Identification of a functionally unique family of penicillin-binding proteins.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 17727-17730.
- “Chemical probes of quorum sensing: From compound development to biological discovery.” Welsh, M.A.; Blackwell, H. E. FEMS Microbial. Rev., 40, 774-794, 2016.
- “Chemical genetics reveals environment-specific roles for quorum sensing circuits in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.” Welsh, M.A.; Blackwell, H. E. Cell Chem. Biol., 23, 361-369. 7, 2016.
- “Small molecule disruption of quorum sensing cross-regulation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes major and unexpected alterations to virulence phenotypes.” Welsh, M.A.; Eibergen, N. R.; Moore, J. D.; Blackwell, H. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 137, 1510-1519, 2015.
Professional Affiliations
American Chemical Society
Appointed to the Faculty
2019Educational Background
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard Medical School
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison
B.S., Washington and Lee University
