Bob Cluss earned a B.A. degree from Boston University and the Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. He held previous positions at San Jose Sate University and the Department of Biology at Middlebury College prior to joining the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1992.
Research Interests
The bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. This obligate microbial parasite naturally cycles between mammalian and tick hosts, requiring the spirochete to respond and adapt to a myriad of changes, including temperature, immune recognition and response, pH, and nutrient availability. We are currently investigating extracellular protein secretion by the spirochete, and by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry protein sequencing and immunochemistry are identifying and characterizing proteins that accumulate in culture medium. These exoproteins may be important in helping the spirochete to survive within the host, evade the immune system, and directly or indirectly cause pathology. Several exoprotein genes have been cloned and recombinant protein will be used to test hypotheses that these factors play a role in the host-parasite interaction. Oms28, a previously described pore-producing protein, may damage host cells. Enolase, which is an enzyme involved in glucose metabolism and related to the same enzyme in streptococci that triggers protein degradation, may serve as a spreading factor following mammalian infection.
RECENT GRANTS
2006 NIH IDeA Network of Research Excellence (INBRE) proposal (through the University of Vermont) - - "Cytopathic Effect of Borrelia burgdorferi Exoproteins Oms28 and Enolase" (R. Cluss, P. I.) (June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007)$74,650.
2005 NIH IDeA Network of Research Excellence (INBRE) proposal (through the University of Vermont) -project “Cytopathic Effect of the Borrelia burgdorferi
Exoproteins Oms28 and Enolase”. $72,801.
2004 NIH BRIN award (through the Vermont Genetics Network, The University of Vermont). To Brooke Gardner (’06) - "Biochemical Characterization of the Enolase
Secreted by Borrelia burgdorferi” $5,000.
2004 NIH BRIN award (through the Vermont Genetics Network, The University of Vermont). “Is the Borrelia burgdorferi Osm28 Secreted Porin a Cytotoxin?”
(R. Cluss, P. I) $10,000.
2002-05 AAAS/Merck Chemical Foundation - To Middlebury College. “New Frontiers in the Molecular Sciences” Support for Undergraduate Research in
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a Summer Visiting Scientist Lecture Series (R. Cluss, Principal Investigator) $60,000 over three years.
2002 NIH BRIN award (through the Vermont Genetics Network, The University of Vermont). “Characterization of the Predicted 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA Reductase
of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme Disease Spirochete”. $10,000.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
*indicates undergraduate co-authors
Cluss, R. G., Silverman*, D. A., and T. R. Stafford*. 2004. Extracellular secretion of the Borrelia burgdorferi Oms28 Porin and Bgp, a glycosaminoglycan binding protein. Infect. Immun. 62:6279-6286.
Cluss, R.G., A. S. Goel*, H. Rehm*, J. G. Schoenecker* and J.T. Boothby. 1996. Coordinate synthesis and turnover of heat shock proteins in Borrelia burgdorferi: Degradation of DnaK during recovery from heat shock. Infect. Immun. 64:1736-1743.
Bruck, D. K., M. L. Talbot, R. G. Cluss, and J. T. Boothby. 1995. Ultrastructural characterization of the stages of spheroplast preparation of Borrelia burgdorferi. Journal of Microbiological Methods. 23 (2):219-228.
Cluss, R. G. and J. T. Boothby. 1990. Thermoregulation of protein synthesis in Borrelia burgdorferi. Infect. Immun. 58:1038-1042.