Jon T. Skare, PhD

Education and Training

• University of California at Irvine, BS, 1986
• Washington State University, PhD, 1992
• University of California-Los Angeles, Postdoc, 1996

Research Interests

• The Skare is focused on microbial pathogenesis with an emphasis in spirochetal infections, particularly Borreliella burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, as well as Borrelia spp. spirochetes associated with relapsing fever. The long-term interests of the Skare lab center on understanding how B. burgdorferi promotes its pathogenic potential and persists in the disparate hosts it occupies in nature (e.g., both arthropods and mammals). In this regard, research is aligned with:
• (i) Regulatory pathways that contribute to the establishment of infection during the arthropod to mammalian transition
• (ii) Characterizing the response to oxidative stressors in B. burgdorferi and the regulation thereof
• (iii) Identifying and characterizing surface structures that contribute to the colonization and maintenance of infection via adherence mechanisms
• (iv) Understanding the ability of B. burgdorferi to persistently infect hosts in the face of a potent innate and adaptive immune response.

Awards, Recognition and Service

• 2023 Regents Professor
• American Academy of Microbiology Fellow conferred by American Society for Microbiology - (Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States)
• College of Medicine, Research Excellence Award, Senior Division conferred by Texas A&M University - (College Station, Texas, United States)