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Joseph P. Zackular, PhD
Investigator
Dr. Zackular's research is focused on understanding how interactions between the host, gut microbiota, and pathogenic microbes impact human health and disease. His recent efforts center on understanding how the important nosocomial pathogen, Clostridium difficile, interacts with resident gut microbiota during infection and how interspecies cross-talk impacts growth, behavior, and virulence of this pathogen.
Bio
Dr. Zackular is an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He received his PhD from the University of Michigan where he studied the role of the gut microbiota in colorectal cancer in the laboratory of Dr. Patrick Schloss. He joined the laboratory of Dr. Eric Skaar at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for his postdoctoral fellowship where he studied the role of dietary metals and nutritional immunity in C. difficile infection.
Dr. Zackular’s research is focused on understanding how interactions between the host, gut microbiota, and pathogenic microbes impact human health and disease. His recent efforts center on understanding how the important nosocomial pathogen, C. difficile, interacts with resident gut microbiota during infection and how interspecies cross-talk impacts growth, behavior, and virulence of this pathogen. Dr. Zackular’s research draws from a number of diverse fields including microbial ecology, bacterial pathogenesis, biochemistry, host-pathogen interactions, and microbiota research.
Education and Training
BS, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, 2008
MS, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, 2009
PhD, University of Michigan (Microbiology), 2014
Fellowship, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2018
Titles and Academic Titles
Investigator
Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Publication Highlights
PubMed:
Juttukonda LJ, Berends ETM, Zackular JP, Stier MT, Moore JL, Zhang Y, Schmitz JE, Beavers WN, Wijers CD, Kehl-Fie T, Atkinson J, Peebels RS, Torres VJ, Caprioli RM, and Skaar EP. Dietary manganese promotes staphylococcal infection of the heart. Cell Host and Microbe. 2017 Oct; 22: 1-12
Zackular JP, Moore JL, Jordan AT, Juttukonda LJ, Noto MJ, Nicholson MR, Crews JD, Semler MW, Zhang Y, Ware LB, Washington MK, Chazin WJ, Caprioli RM, and Skaar EP. Dietary Zinc Alters the Microbiota and Decreases Resistance to Clostridium difficile Infection. Nature Medicine. 2016 Nov; 22(11):1330-34
Zackular JP, Baxter NT, Chen GY, and Schloss PD. Manipulation of the Gut Microbiome Reveals Role for in Colorectal Cancer. mSphere. 2015 Nov; 1(1); e00001-15.
Zackular JP, Rogers MA, Ruffin MT, and Schloss PD. The Human Gut Microbiome as a Screening Tool for Colorectal Cancer. Cancer Prevention Research. 2014 Nov; 7(11); 1112–21
Zackular JP, Baxter NT, Iverson KD, Sadler WD, Petrosino JF, Chen GY, and Schloss PD. The Gut Microbiome Modulates Colon Tumorigenesis. mBio. 2013 Nov; 4(5):e00692-13