Sean McClory, Ph.D.

Before arriving at La Salle, Dr. McClory was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied how genes are regulated in the human immune system by a process known as mRNA splicing, and served as a visiting assistant professor at Kenyon College. Dr. McClory earned his PhD from Ohio State University, where he studied the structure and function of RNA in ribosomes – targets of many important antibiotics.

RNA is a unique and versatile molecule, playing important roles in almost every aspect of life. Currently, Dr. McClory’s laboratory is investigating how an RNA sequence in bacteriophages causes a Programmed Translational Frameshift (PTF) – which allows these bacterial viruses to produce multiple proteins from a single gene. Understanding PTF will provide insights into how bacteriophages have evolved to infect different bacteria, which will aid in the development of therapeutic bacteriophages as an alternative to antibiotics.

Areas of Expertise

• Microbiology
• Molecular Biology
• RNA Biology

Education

• BS Biochemistry – Ohio State University 2006
• Ph.D. Biochemistry – Ohio State University 2013

Teaching

• Bio 163 – Clinical Microbiology
• Bio 270 – Phage Hunting
• Bio 210 – Cellular Biology and Genetics

Publications

McClory SP, Lynch KW, Ling JP. HnRNP L represses cryptic exons. RNA. 2018 Jun;24(6):761-768.

Gu SQ, Gallego-Perez D, McClory SP, Shi J, Han J, Lee LJ, Shoenberg DR. The human PMR1 endonuclease stimulates cell motility by down regulating miR-200 family microRNAs. Nucleic Acids Research. 2016 Jul 8; 44(12):5811-9.

McGinnis JL, Liu Q, Lavender CA, Devaraj A, McClory SP, Fredrick K, Weeks KM. In-cell SHAPE reveals that free 30S ribosome subunits are in the inactive state. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Feb 24;112(8):2425-30.

McClory SP, Devaraj A, Fredrick K. Distinct functional classes of ram mutations in 16S rRNA. RNA. 2014 Apr;20(4):496-504.

McClory SP, Devaraj A, Qin D, Leisring JM, and Fredrick K. Mutations in 16S rRNA that decrease the fidelity of translation. In Ribosomes: Structure, Function, and Dynamics, M. Rodnina et al., ed. (New York: Springer-Verlag Wien). 2011.

McClory SP, Leisring JM, Qin D, Fredrick K. Missense suppressor mutations in 16S rRNA reveal the importance of helices h8 and h14 in aminoacyl-tRNA selection. RNA. 2010 Oct;16(10):1925-34.