Eric Skaar Archives

Kaydi Naylor, 4, touches an eastern chain kingsnake at last week’s “MEGAMicrobe Express” community science fair at the Warner Elementary Arts Magnet School in East Nashville.

MEGAMicrobe event shows children that science can be fun

Sep. 22, 2022—More than 100 children who attended the “MEGAMicrobe Express” community science fair on Sept. 17 at the Warner Elementary Arts Magnet School in East Nashville.

Bacterial battle in 3D

Jun. 2, 2022—Using imaging mass spectrometry and microscopy, Vanderbilt researchers visualized how staph bacteria modifies lipids in its membrane to evade immune system-mediated killing.

Andy Weiss, PhD, Caitlin Murdoch, PhD, and colleagues have characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other “client” proteins.

Study identifies first cellular “chaperone” for zinc, sheds light on worldwide public health problem of zinc deficiency

May. 17, 2022—A team led by Vanderbilt researchers has described and characterized the first zinc metallochaperone: a protein that puts zinc into other “client” proteins.

Erin Green, PhD, Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, and colleagues are studying how a certain bacterial pathogen can survive on hospital surfaces for months with no water.

VUMC team discovers how bacterial pathogen survives without water

May. 5, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers are studying a bacterial pathogen that can survive on hospital surfaces — without water — for months, an ability that has helped it become a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.

Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, Hualiang Pi, PhD, and colleagues are studying a regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax.

Study advances understanding of bacterial bioterrorism agent

Apr. 7, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers have identified a critical regulatory factor in the bacterium that causes the disease anthrax and has been used as a biological weapon.

Impaired neutrophils in autoimmunity

Jan. 27, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers help answer the question of why patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus are more susceptible to bacterial infections: their neutrophils have impaired antibacterial activity.

Molecular imaging of C. diff infection

Sep. 30, 2021—C. difficile — the leading cause of hospital-associated intestinal infections — induces a rapid influx of bile acids into the gut, which could provide a novel target for blocking infection.

Caught in a web: study reveals that immune cells cooperate to trap and kill bacteria

Sep. 10, 2021—Vanderbilt researchers have identified a new antibacterial mechanism that could inspire novel strategies for combating staph and other extracellular bacterial pathogens.

VUMC postdoctoral fellow Valeria Reyes Ruiz, PhD, has been selected as a 2020 Hanna Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

VUMC postdoctoral scientist named HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow

Feb. 18, 2021—Valeria Reyes Ruiz, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, has been selected as a 2020 Hanna Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Artist Anjali Kumari, an undergraduate student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, worked with Vanderbilt PhD student Kelsey Pilewski on this piece that depicts co-infection by two viruses, HIV (blue) and HCV (red), and the evolution of antibodies to combat virus infection.

Grant helps expand VI4’s Artist-in-Residence program

Oct. 29, 2020—An innovative Vanderbilt program that brings together scientists and artists with the shared goal of scientific communication is set to expand with support from a three-year grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Probing pathogen antibiotic resistance

Sep. 17, 2020—Understanding how bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics and host stresses could guide the development of more effective antimicrobial therapeutics.