Pamela J. Skinner

B.S., Genetics and Cell Biology, Univ. of Minnesota
Ph.D., Pathobiology, Univ. of Minnesota

Research Interests
Dr. Skinner's laboratory focuses on two distinct research projects. The goal of the first project is to gain insights into prion disease pathogenesis. The goal of the second project is to gain insights into human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) pathogenesis. Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative diseases with no known cure. Increased understanding of the molecular events that lead to neurodegeneration in each of these diseases is needed for early diagnosis and the development of new drug therapies. Current efforts in Dr. Skinner's lab involve the use of cDNA microarrays to identify alterations in gene expression that occur during prion-induced pathogenesis. The ultimate goal of the prion research project is to increase our understanding of the molecular events that occur during prion disease, identify markers for early diagnosis, and identify new targets for drug therapy. The HIV/SIV project is motivated by the fact that over 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV. A pressing biomedical priority is the development of an effective HIV vaccine. Several lines of evidence have indicated that the development of an effective HIV vaccine will require the induction of a strong virus specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response. Using MHC-class I tetramers, Dr. Skinner developed a method to stain antigen specific CTLs in tissue sections. This technique is referred to as in situ tetramer staining (IST). Dr. Skinner's lab is using IST to evaluate SIV and HIV specific T cells in tissues after infection, and plans to use IST to evaluate the effects of vaccination on the development of anti-viral T cells in tissues.

Selected Publications
(For a comprehensive list of Dr. Skinner's recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

Hyeon Kim, Greg Snyder, Bruce Chesebro, Richard E. Race, and Pamela J. Skinner, Prion disease induced alterations in gene expression in the spleen and brain prior to clinical symptoms. Manuscript submitted and being reviewed for publication 2007.

Elizabeth Connick, Terri Mattila, Joy M. Folkvord, Rick Schlichtemeier, Amie L. Meditz, Aaron Hage, Cara White, and Pamela J. Skinner. HIV-1-Specific CD8+ Cells Fail to Accumulate in Lymphoid Follicles Where Virus Replication is Concentrated, Journal of Immunology, 2007; 178(11): 6975-6983.

Pamela J. Skinner, Hayet Abbassi, Bruce Chesebro, Richard Race, Cavan Reilly, and Ashley T. Haase. Gene expression alterations in brains of mice infected with three strains of scrapie. BMC Genomics; 7(114), 2006.

Matthew R. Reynolds, Eva Rakasz, Pamela J. Skinner, Cara White, Kristina Abel, Min Ma, Lara Compton, Gnankang Napoé, Nancy Wilson, Christopher J. Miller, Ashley Haase, David I. Watkins. The CD8⁺ T-Lymphocyte Response to Major Immunodominant Epitopes after Vaginal Exposure to SIV: Too Late and Too Little. Journal of Virology, 2005 Jul;79(14):9228-35Skinner, P.J., Haase, A.T. 2002. In situ tetramer staining. Journal of Immunological Methods. 268: 29–34.

Skinner, P.J., Vierra-Green, C.A., Emamian, E., Zoghbi, H.Y., Orr, H.T. 2002. Amino acids in a region of ataxin-1 outside of the polyglutamine tract influence the course of disease in SCA1 transgenic mice. Neuromolecular Medicine. 1(1):33–42.

Mothé, B.R., Horton, H., Carter, D.K., Liebl, M.E., Skinner, P.J., Allen, T.M., Vogel, T.U., Franchini, G., Rehrauer, W., Wilson, N., Altman, J.D., Haase, A.T., Picker, L.J., Sette, A.D., Watkins, D.I. 2002. Dominance of CD8 Responses Specific for Epitopes Bound by a Single MHC Class I Molecule During Both the Acute and Chronic Phases of Viral Infection. Journal of Virology. 76(2): 875–84.

Skinner, P.J., Vierra-Green, C.A., Clark, H.B., Zoghbi, H.Y., Orr, H.T. 2001. Altered trafficking of membrane proteins in Purkinje cells of SCA1 transgenic mice. American Journal of Pathology. 159, 905–13.

Skinner, P.J., Daniels, M.A., Schmidt, C.S., Jameson, S.C., Haase, A.T. 2000. In situ tetramer staining of antigen-specific T cells in tissues. Journal of Immunology 165 (2): 613–617.

Kaytor, M.D., Duvick, L.A., Skinner, P.J., Koob, M.D., Ranum, L.P.W., Orr, H.T. 1999. Nuclear localization of the spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 protein, ataxin-7. Human Molecular Genetics 8(9): 1657–1664.

Klement, I.A., Skinner, P.J., Kaytor, M.D., Hong, Y., Hersch, S.M., Clark, H.B., Zoghbi, H.Y., Orr, H.T. 1998. Ataxin-1 nuclear localization and aggregation: role in polyglutamine-induced disease in SCA1 transgenic mice. Cell 95: 41–53.

Skinner, P.J., Koshy, B.T., Cummings, C.J., Klement, I.A., Helin, K., Servadio, A., Zoghbi, H.Y., Orr, H.T. 1997. Ataxin-1 With an Expanded Glutamine Tract Alters Nuclear Matrix-Associated Structures. Nature 389: 971–974.

Current Funding
"Alterations in gene expression during prion pathogenesis," BMGC Microarray Grants Program, University of Minnesota.

National Research Service Award, Infectious Diseases Training Grant. University of Minnesota Department of Microbiology, 1999–2001.

Charles and Dorothy Andrew Bird Award and election to full membership in the Sigma Xi Society. University of Minnesota Chapter of Sigma Xi, 1998.

Assistant Professor - Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences