Rate My Professor Robert Skibbens

Skibbens' research program investigates cohesins and ESCO-type proteins (such as Ctf7/Eco1 and human homologs ESCO1/ESCO2) that stabilize DNA-DNA interactions critical for chromosome segregation, transcription regulation, DNA repair, and genomic stability. Utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the primary model system, with collaborative extensions to human tissue culture cells and zebrafish fin regeneration models, his laboratory explores sister chromatid tethering during DNA replication, chromosome looping, and defects leading to cancer, aneuploidy, and cohesinopathies like Roberts Syndrome. He has secured multiple competitive research grants, including National Institute of General Medical Sciences awards such as 1R03HD107169-01 (2022-2024, Novel targets of CRL4 ligase within Cohesinopathy pathways), 1R15GM139097-01 (2020-2023, Novel targets of the Roberts Syndrome acetyltransferase Esco2/Eco1), 1R15GM110631-01 (2014-2020, DNA helicase and replication factor functions in genome maintenance), and 1R15GM083269-02 (2011-2014, Mechanisms of sister chromatid pairing); Susan G. Komen for the Cure grant BCTR0707708 (2007-2010); and NSF grant MCB-0212323 (2002-2005). Key publications include Singh G, Skibbens RV (2025, Aberrant cohesin function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae activates Mcd1 degradation to promote cell lethality, bioRxiv); Duke G, Skibbens RV (2025, Analysis of combinatorial cohesin subunit gene deletions in budding yeast, Genetics); Tong K, Skibbens RV (2015, Pds5 regulators segregate cohesion and condensation pathways in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, PNAS); and Shen D, Skibbens RV (2017, Chl1 DNA helicase and Scc2 function in chromosome condensation through cohesin deposition, PLoS One), among numerous contributions to journals such as Genetics, G3, Cell Cycle, and PLoS One that elucidate cohesin regulation mechanisms.