University of Connecticut |
Education: Ph.D. University of Hawaii; Postdoctoral studies, Stanford University/Harvard University Research Interests: Symbiosis; comparative immunology The goal of my laboratory is to understand the mechanisms by which animal hosts and microbial symbionts communicate with an emphasis on how components of the innate immune system may influence these interactions. We use the symbiosis between the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, and the bioluminescent bacterium, Vibrio fischeri, as a model system to study the effects of beneficial bacteria on animal host tissues. This association has an advantage in that each partner can be raised independently in the laboratory and is readily available for molecular, biochemical, and genetic analyses. My lab also is engaged in a project using functional genomics to study the relationship between hydrothermal vent tubeworms and their chemoautotrophic, sulfide-oxidizing bacterial symbionts. Selected Publications:
Symbiosis Nyholm, S.V. and M. J. McFall-Ngai. 2004. The Winnowing: Establishing the Squid-Vibrio Symbiosis. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 2: 632-642. Nyholm, S. V. and M. J. McFall-Ngai. 2003. Dominance of Vibrio fischeri in secreted mucus outside the light organ of Euprymna scolopes: the first site of symbiont specificity. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 3932-7. Nyholm, S. V., B. Deplancke, H. R. Gaskins, M. A. Apicella, and M. J. McFall-Ngai. 2002. Roles of nonsymbiotic and symbiotic bacteria in the dynamics of mucus secretion during symbiont colonization of the Euprymna scolopes light organ. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:5113-5122. Nyholm, S. V., E. V. Stabb, E. G. Ruby, and M. J. McFall-Ngai. 2000 Establishment of an animal-bacterial association: recruiting symbiotic vibrios from the environment. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., USA 97:10231-10235. Nyholm, S. V. and M. J. McFall-Ngai. 1998. Sampling the light-organ microenvironment of Euprymna scolopes: description of a population of host cells in association with the bacterial symbiont Vibrio fischeri. Biol. Bull. 195: 89-97. Other publications: Nyholm, S.V., Passegue, E., Ludington, W.B., Voskoboynik, A., Mitchel, K., Weissman, I.L., DeTomaso, A. W. (2006) Fester, a candidate allorecognition receptor from a primitive chordate. Immunity. 25: 163-73. De Tomaso, A.W., Nyholm, S.V., Palmeri, K.J., Ishizuka, K.J., Ludington, W.B., Mitchel, K., Weissman, I.L. 2005. Isolation and characterization of a protochordate histocompatibility locus. Nature. 438:454-9. |
