SHIKUMA LAB
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SHIKUMA LAB

Department of Biology | San Diego State University 

Marine Microbiology | Symbiosis
The Shikuma Lab studies how bacteria promote animal development in the ocean and human gut. To understand how normal microbiome bacteria promote host development or disease we use microbiology, synthetic biology, genetics, biochemistry and cell-biology approaches during environmentally relevant bacteria-host interactions.

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LAB NEWS
July 2022 ​The Shikuma Lab just won a 5-year, $1.8M NIH MIRA grant!

​We are excited to continue studying bacterial Injection Systems in the ocean and human gut.


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June 2022 ​Congratulations to Dr. Kyle E. Malter for successfully defending his doctoral dissertation. We could not be more proud of our fearless zombie slayer!

May 2022 ​Our new paper is out in Developmental Biology. We discover a conserved signaling cascade orchestrating metamorphosis in response to bacteria. Check it out!

May 2022 ​Congratulations to Dr. Amanda T. Alker for successfully defending her doctoral dissertation. We could not be more proud of our first pancake!

March 2022 ​We are thrilled to welcome a new Postdoc, Dr. Katherine Nesbit, to our team. Dr. Nesbit received her PhD in sea urchin development from the Hamdoun Lab at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Welcome Kate!

March 2022 ​PhD student Amanda Alker wins a President's Award for her presentation on coral probiotics at the SDSU Student Research Symposium. Way to go, Amanda!

September 2021 Knowable Magazine - Animals that take advice from bacteria. A descriptive article about our work in Annual Reviews of Microbiology.
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August 2021 Our invited perspective piece in mSystems is live! Read about the ocean of insights we acquired by studying an mysterious microbe-animal interaction.
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 June 2021 Check out the news article about undergraduate Sama Michael's head start to Microbiology at SDSU! 
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March 2021 ​Dr. Shikuma is invited for 3 talks at 3 Universities, including Vanderbilt University. Check out the talk recording here.
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August 2020 PhD students, Kyle and Amanda, both win prestigious ARCS Scholarships!

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August 2020 Amanda's first, first-author publication is in press at Environmental Microbiology! We reveal a hidden complexity of interactions between a single bacterial species, the factors it produces and two species of animal larvae.
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July 2020 We discovered that genes encoding a distinct Contractile Injection System is present within a majority of healthy human microbiomes. Our new paper is in press at mSystems! Check it out!
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June 2020 Undergraduate, Milagros Esmerode, starts a PhD program at UCSB in the Fall! Go Mimi!

September 2020 Our new review on bacteria-stimulated metamorphosis in Annual Review of Microbiology is in press! 
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​April 2020
 Dr. Shikuma receives a prestigious NSF CAREER Award! Here's the news story.
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September 2019 Check out our new paper in eLife! We discovered the first protein from bacteria that stimulates animal metamorphosis! 

​July 2019 We discovered that bacteria produce tiny syringe-like structures that inject a toxin into animal cells, opening the possibility for using them as novel drug delivery systems. Now in CellReports!

See more lab news posts here 

CONTACT US

Shikuma Lab
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
​San Diego, CA 92182

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Email: nshikuma@sdsu.edu
  • Welcome
  • RESEARCH
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • PEOPLE
  • SCIENCE GLASS
  • Metamorphotech
  • Join Us