Lyme Disease

Bob Cluss
Dean of Curriculum, Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 450
Phone: (802) 443 - 5025
Email: rcluss@middlebury.edu

Media Contact
Office of Public Affairs
802.443.5198

Topics he can discuss include:

Lyme disease
biochemistry of metabolism
new frontiers in molecular sciences

Bob Cluss is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and also the dean of curriculum at Middlebury College. He first joined the faculty in 1986.

His current research focuses on the the spiral-shaped bacterium responsible for causing Lyme disease, which is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. This microbial pathogen naturally cycles between mammalian and tick hosts, responding uniquely to each host environment. Cluss and his students have identified a group of proteins that are released by the spirochete and are studying several to determine if they help the pathogen survive in the host, evade the immune system and contribute to disease. These proteins may also serve as new clinical markers for infection.

Cluss graduated from Boston University and received his doctorate from Ohio State University.

Bob Cluss: Lyme Disease