Eric Skaar

Too much dietary manganese — an essential trace mineral found in leafy green vegetables, fruits and nuts — promotes infection of the heart by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”).

On July 24 Vanderbilt scientist Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, summarized his group’s latest paper in a tweet: “If S. aureus is going to drink our blood like a vampire, let's kill it with sunlight.”

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is launching a new institute to coordinate initiatives among the rapidly evolving disciplines of infection biology, immunology and inflammatory diseases.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus — two pathogens that frequently co-infect the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis — appear to cooperate with each other, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. When pseudomonas is starved for metal by the host, it shuts down the production of factors that would normally kill staph, promoting a co-infection.

Too much dietary zinc increases susceptibility to infection by Clostridium difficile — “C. diff” — the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections.

Understanding factors, such as the receptor TLR9, that detect and defend against pathogens may lead to therapeutic approaches that promote an effective immune response to treat infections.

Eric Skaar, Ph.D., MPH, the Ernest W. Goodpasture Professor of Pathology, has received a Scholar Award from the American Asthma Foundation (AAF).