Anna Marie Skalka, PhD

Senior Advisor to the President
Professor Emerita
Former W.W. Smith Chair in Cancer Research
Educational Background
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Genetics, Carnegie Insitution, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
- PhD, Candidate, Microbiology, Yale University, New Haven CT, 1959-60
- PhD, Microbiology, New York University Medical School, New York, NY
- BA, Biology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, 1959
Memberships
- Editorial Board, Journal of Virology, 1974 - 1985
- NIH Working Group on Safer Hosts and Vectors, (for Recombinant DNA Research), Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee 1976 - 1980
- Editor, Gene, 1976 - 1997
- Member, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Standing Committee on Recombinant DNA Research, 1977 - 1979
- NIH Study Section, Experimental Virology, 1977 - 1981
- IUPHAR (International Union of Pharmacology), Representative to the International Congress of Scientific Union's Committee on Genetic Experimentation (COGENE), 1977 - 1985
- Member, American Cancer Society Advisory Committee on Microbiology and Virology, 1982 - 1985
- Editorial Board, Journal of Molecular and Cellular Biology, 1983 - 1987
- Commissioner, New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research, (Governor's Appointment), 1983 - date
- Editor, BioEssay, 1984 - 1989
- Editor, Journal of Virology, 1985 – 1989
- Outstanding Woman Scientist Award, American Association of Women in Science, 1985
- Member, Board of Scientific Counselors for National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 1989 - 1993
- Member, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Awards Assembly, 1989 - 1993
- Chairperson, 1991 Sloan Prize Selection Committee, 1990
- National Cancer Institute, Outstanding Investigator Grant, 1990-1997
- Recipient, Bristol-Myers Squibb Special Unrestricted Grant, Research in Infectious Diseases, 1992-1997
- Member, External Advisory Board, NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, 1992 - 1995
- Member, Selection Committee for Bristol-Myers Squibb Award, Outstanding Achievement in Infectious Diseases, 1992 - 1997
- Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, NCI designated Cancer Center, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, Madison, WI, 1992 - 1999
- Editorial Board, Cancer Research, 1993 – 2005
- Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1994
- Chair, Microbiological and Immunological Special Emphasis Panel, Experimental Virology Study Section, 1994 - 1995
- Member, NCI Board of Scientific Counselors, Division of Cancer Treatment, 1994 - 1995
- Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1994 - 2006
- Member, Selection Committee, Chiron Corporation Biotechnology Research Award, 1995 - 1998
- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Case Western Reserve University, Center for AIDS Research, 1995 – 2000
- Elected, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1996
- Member, Naval Research Advisory Committee, 1996 - 2000
- Chairperson, Selection Committee for Bristol-Myers Squibb Award, Outstanding Achievement in Infectious Diseases, 1997 - 1998
- Member, NCI Board of Scientific Counselors for Basic Science, 1997 – 2001
- Elected, American Academy of Microbiology – Board of Governors, 1998
- Elected Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences, 2000
- Vice Chair, New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research, 2000 - 2005
- Member, United States Department of Defense Science Board, 2000 - 2011
- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc, 2001 – date
- Governor Appointed Chair, New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research, 2005 - 2014
- Member, AIDS Molecular and Cellular Biology Study Section (AMCB), 2006 - 2010
- Member, John Scott Award Advisory Committee, 2008 - date
- Outstanding Women of Science Award, N.J. Assoc. Biomedical Research, 2008
- American Cancer Society Scientific Research Award, PA Div, 2008
- Visiting Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 2009 - date
- Co-Organizer, Centennial Retrovirus Meeting. Prague Czech Republic, 2010
- Elected Member, AAAS Nominating Committee, Biological Sciences, 2011 - 2014
- P50 Center Grant Study Section, Washington, DC, 2012
- Elected Member, Committee on Elections to the American Academy of Microbiology, 2012 - 2016
Honors & Awards
- William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement. Awarded, Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Honor Society), 2018
- Distinguished Research Award, Center for Retroviral Research, Ohio State University, 2013
Research Interests
- Molecular aspects of viral replication, focus on human (HIV) and avian (ASLV) retroviruses
- Structure and function of retroviral integrase
- Epigenetic control of retroviral gene expression
Lab Overview
Work in the Skalka laboratory has been focused on obtaining a detailed understanding of the mechanism by which retroviral DNA is integrated into its host cell chromatin, and discovering the epigenetic factors and processes that affect its subsequent expression. Retroviruses are of special interest, not only because they are agents of disease, including cancer, but also because they are important as vehicles for the insertion of desired genes into target cells for scientific investigation and gene therapy.
A broad range of investigational methods have been exploited in these studies from analyses of protein function, to in vivo studies of viral growth and cell biology. Our overarching goals have been to uncover new information of fundamental importance to both virus and cell biology, and to identify new targets for therapies to treat disease.
Richard Katz, PhD
Research Professor - Collaborator
Mark Andrake, PhD
Assistant Research Professor - Collaborator
George Merkel, MS
Scientific Assistant
Katherine Buettner, PhD
Postdoc Trainee
Taryn Serman
Summer Student Trainee
Selected Publications
Skalka, A.M. Retroviral DNA transposition: Themes and variations. In: Mobile DNA III (Sandmeyer, S., Craig, N., eds.). ASM Press, in press, 2015. Available in Microbiology http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/microbiolspec/2/5
Benleulmi, M.S., Matysiak, J., Henriquez, D.R., Vaillant, C., Lesbats, P., Calmels, C., Naughtin, M., Leon, O., Skalka, A.M., Ruff, M., Lavigne, M., Andreola, M.L., Parissi, V. Intasome architecture and chromatin density modulate retroviral integration into nucleosome. Retrovirology 12:13-29, 2015. PMCID: PMC4358916 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25807893
Haugh, K.A., Shalginskikh, N., Nogusa, S., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A., Balachandran, S. The interferon-inducible antiviral protein Daxx is not essential for interferon-mediated protection against avian sarcoma virus. Virol. J. 11:100, 2014. PMCID: PMC4049388 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24884573
Poleshko, A., Kossenkov, A.V., Shalginskikh, N., Pecherskaya, A., Einarson, M.B., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A. Human factors and pathways essential for mediating epigenetic gene silencing. Epigenetics 9:1280-1289, 2014. PMCID: PMC4169020 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25147916
Bojja, R.S., Andrake, M.D., Merkel, G., Weigand, S., Dunbrack, R.L., Jr., Skalka, A.M. Architecture and assembly of HIV integrase multimers in the absence of DNA substrates. J. Biol. Chem. 288:7373-7386, 2013. PMCID: PMC3591645 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23322775
Shalginskikh, N., Poleshko, A., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A. Retroviral DNA methylation and epigenetic repression are mediated by the antiviral host protein Daxx. Selected by the Editors as an Article of "Significant Interest". J. Virol. 87:2137-2150, 2013. PMCID: PMC3571491 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23221555
Peletskaya, E., Andrake, M., Gustchina, A., Merkel, G., Alexandratos, J., Zhou, D., Bojja, R.S., Satoh, T., Potapov, M., Kogon, A., Potapov, V., Wlodawer, A., Skalka, A.M. Localization of ASV integrase-DNA contacts by site-directed crosslinking and their structural analysis. PLoS One 6:e27751, 2011. PMCID: PMC3228729 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22145019
Katz, R.A., Merkel, G., Andrake, M.D., Roder, H., Skalka, A.M. Retroviral integrases promote fraying of viral DNA ends. J. Biol. Chem. 286:25710-25718, 2011. PMCID: PMC3138259 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21622554
Bojja, R.S., Andrake, M.D., Weigand, S., Merkel, G., Yarychkivska, O., Henderson, A., Kummerling, M., Skalka, A.M. Architecture of a full-length retroviral integrase monomer and dimer, revealed by small angle X-ray scattering and chemical cross-linking. J. Biol. Chem. 286:17047-17059, 2011. PMCID: PMC3089549 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21454648
Belyi, V.A., Levine, A.J., Skalka, A.M. Sequences from ancestral single-stranded DNA viruses in vertebrate genomes: the parvoviridae and circoviridae are more than 40 to 50 million years old. J. Virol. 84:12458-12462, 2010. PMCID: PMC297638 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20861255
Belyi, V.A., Levine, A.J., Skalka, A.M. Unexpected inheritance: multiple integrations of ancient bornavirus and ebolavirus/marburgvirus sequences in vertebrate genomes. PLoS Pathog. 6:e1001030, 2010. PMCID: PMC2912400 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20686665
Poleshko, A., Einarson, M.B., Shalginskikh, N., Zhang, R., Adams, P.D., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A. Identification of a functional network of human epigenetic silencing factors. J. Biol. Chem. 285:422-433, 2010. PMCID: PMC2804189 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19880521
Andrake, M.D., Ramcharan, J., Merkel, G., Zhao, X.Z., Burke, T.R., Jr., Skalka, A.M. Comparison of metal-dependent catalysis by HIV-1 and ASV integrase proteins using a new and rapid, moderate throughput assay for joining activity in solution. AIDS Res. Ther. 6:14, 2009. PMCID: PMC2717984 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19563676
Merkel, G., Andrake, M.D., Ramcharan, J., Skalka, A.M. Oligonucleotide-based assays for integrase activity. Methods 47:243-248, 2009. PMCID: PMC2743288 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19010419
Andrake, M.D., Sauter, M.M., Boland, K., Goldstein, A.D., Hussein, M., Skalka, A.M. Nuclear import of Avian Sarcoma Virus integrase is facilitated by host cell factors. Retrovirology 5:73, 2008. PMCID: PMC2527327 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18687138
Additional Publications
Contact Information
Anna.Skalka@fccc.edu
Office Phone: 215-728-2490
Fax: 215-728-2778
Office:R419

Contact Information
Anna.Skalka@fccc.edu
Office Phone: 215-728-2490
Fax: 215-728-2778
Office:R419
Senior Advisor to the President
Professor Emerita
Former W.W. Smith Chair in Cancer Research
Education
Educational Background
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Genetics, Carnegie Insitution, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
- PhD, Candidate, Microbiology, Yale University, New Haven CT, 1959-60
- PhD, Microbiology, New York University Medical School, New York, NY
- BA, Biology, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, 1959
Memberships
- Editorial Board, Journal of Virology, 1974 - 1985
- NIH Working Group on Safer Hosts and Vectors, (for Recombinant DNA Research), Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee 1976 - 1980
- Editor, Gene, 1976 - 1997
- Member, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Standing Committee on Recombinant DNA Research, 1977 - 1979
- NIH Study Section, Experimental Virology, 1977 - 1981
- IUPHAR (International Union of Pharmacology), Representative to the International Congress of Scientific Union's Committee on Genetic Experimentation (COGENE), 1977 - 1985
- Member, American Cancer Society Advisory Committee on Microbiology and Virology, 1982 - 1985
- Editorial Board, Journal of Molecular and Cellular Biology, 1983 - 1987
- Commissioner, New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research, (Governor's Appointment), 1983 - date
- Editor, BioEssay, 1984 - 1989
- Editor, Journal of Virology, 1985 – 1989
- Outstanding Woman Scientist Award, American Association of Women in Science, 1985
- Member, Board of Scientific Counselors for National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 1989 - 1993
- Member, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Awards Assembly, 1989 - 1993
- Chairperson, 1991 Sloan Prize Selection Committee, 1990
- National Cancer Institute, Outstanding Investigator Grant, 1990-1997
- Recipient, Bristol-Myers Squibb Special Unrestricted Grant, Research in Infectious Diseases, 1992-1997
- Member, External Advisory Board, NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, 1992 - 1995
- Member, Selection Committee for Bristol-Myers Squibb Award, Outstanding Achievement in Infectious Diseases, 1992 - 1997
- Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, NCI designated Cancer Center, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, Madison, WI, 1992 - 1999
- Editorial Board, Cancer Research, 1993 – 2005
- Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1994
- Chair, Microbiological and Immunological Special Emphasis Panel, Experimental Virology Study Section, 1994 - 1995
- Member, NCI Board of Scientific Counselors, Division of Cancer Treatment, 1994 - 1995
- Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1994 - 2006
- Member, Selection Committee, Chiron Corporation Biotechnology Research Award, 1995 - 1998
- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Case Western Reserve University, Center for AIDS Research, 1995 – 2000
- Elected, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1996
- Member, Naval Research Advisory Committee, 1996 - 2000
- Chairperson, Selection Committee for Bristol-Myers Squibb Award, Outstanding Achievement in Infectious Diseases, 1997 - 1998
- Member, NCI Board of Scientific Counselors for Basic Science, 1997 – 2001
- Elected, American Academy of Microbiology – Board of Governors, 1998
- Elected Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences, 2000
- Vice Chair, New Jersey State Commission on Cancer Research, 2000 - 2005
- Member, United States Department of Defense Science Board, 2000 - 2011
- Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Onconova Therapeutics, Inc, 2001 – date
- Governor Appointed Chair, New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research, 2005 - 2014
- Member, AIDS Molecular and Cellular Biology Study Section (AMCB), 2006 - 2010
- Member, John Scott Award Advisory Committee, 2008 - date
- Outstanding Women of Science Award, N.J. Assoc. Biomedical Research, 2008
- American Cancer Society Scientific Research Award, PA Div, 2008
- Visiting Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 2009 - date
- Co-Organizer, Centennial Retrovirus Meeting. Prague Czech Republic, 2010
- Elected Member, AAAS Nominating Committee, Biological Sciences, 2011 - 2014
- P50 Center Grant Study Section, Washington, DC, 2012
- Elected Member, Committee on Elections to the American Academy of Microbiology, 2012 - 2016
Honors & Awards
- William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement. Awarded, Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Honor Society), 2018
- Distinguished Research Award, Center for Retroviral Research, Ohio State University, 2013
Research Profile
Research Interests
- Molecular aspects of viral replication, focus on human (HIV) and avian (ASLV) retroviruses
- Structure and function of retroviral integrase
- Epigenetic control of retroviral gene expression
Lab Overview
Work in the Skalka laboratory has been focused on obtaining a detailed understanding of the mechanism by which retroviral DNA is integrated into its host cell chromatin, and discovering the epigenetic factors and processes that affect its subsequent expression. Retroviruses are of special interest, not only because they are agents of disease, including cancer, but also because they are important as vehicles for the insertion of desired genes into target cells for scientific investigation and gene therapy.
A broad range of investigational methods have been exploited in these studies from analyses of protein function, to in vivo studies of viral growth and cell biology. Our overarching goals have been to uncover new information of fundamental importance to both virus and cell biology, and to identify new targets for therapies to treat disease.
Lab Staff
Richard Katz, PhD
Research Professor - Collaborator
Mark Andrake, PhD
Assistant Research Professor - Collaborator
George Merkel, MS
Scientific Assistant
Katherine Buettner, PhD
Postdoc Trainee
Taryn Serman
Summer Student Trainee
Publications
Selected Publications
Skalka, A.M. Retroviral DNA transposition: Themes and variations. In: Mobile DNA III (Sandmeyer, S., Craig, N., eds.). ASM Press, in press, 2015. Available in Microbiology http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/microbiolspec/2/5
Benleulmi, M.S., Matysiak, J., Henriquez, D.R., Vaillant, C., Lesbats, P., Calmels, C., Naughtin, M., Leon, O., Skalka, A.M., Ruff, M., Lavigne, M., Andreola, M.L., Parissi, V. Intasome architecture and chromatin density modulate retroviral integration into nucleosome. Retrovirology 12:13-29, 2015. PMCID: PMC4358916 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25807893
Haugh, K.A., Shalginskikh, N., Nogusa, S., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A., Balachandran, S. The interferon-inducible antiviral protein Daxx is not essential for interferon-mediated protection against avian sarcoma virus. Virol. J. 11:100, 2014. PMCID: PMC4049388 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24884573
Poleshko, A., Kossenkov, A.V., Shalginskikh, N., Pecherskaya, A., Einarson, M.B., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A. Human factors and pathways essential for mediating epigenetic gene silencing. Epigenetics 9:1280-1289, 2014. PMCID: PMC4169020 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25147916
Bojja, R.S., Andrake, M.D., Merkel, G., Weigand, S., Dunbrack, R.L., Jr., Skalka, A.M. Architecture and assembly of HIV integrase multimers in the absence of DNA substrates. J. Biol. Chem. 288:7373-7386, 2013. PMCID: PMC3591645 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23322775
Shalginskikh, N., Poleshko, A., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A. Retroviral DNA methylation and epigenetic repression are mediated by the antiviral host protein Daxx. Selected by the Editors as an Article of "Significant Interest". J. Virol. 87:2137-2150, 2013. PMCID: PMC3571491 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23221555
Peletskaya, E., Andrake, M., Gustchina, A., Merkel, G., Alexandratos, J., Zhou, D., Bojja, R.S., Satoh, T., Potapov, M., Kogon, A., Potapov, V., Wlodawer, A., Skalka, A.M. Localization of ASV integrase-DNA contacts by site-directed crosslinking and their structural analysis. PLoS One 6:e27751, 2011. PMCID: PMC3228729 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22145019
Katz, R.A., Merkel, G., Andrake, M.D., Roder, H., Skalka, A.M. Retroviral integrases promote fraying of viral DNA ends. J. Biol. Chem. 286:25710-25718, 2011. PMCID: PMC3138259 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21622554
Bojja, R.S., Andrake, M.D., Weigand, S., Merkel, G., Yarychkivska, O., Henderson, A., Kummerling, M., Skalka, A.M. Architecture of a full-length retroviral integrase monomer and dimer, revealed by small angle X-ray scattering and chemical cross-linking. J. Biol. Chem. 286:17047-17059, 2011. PMCID: PMC3089549 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21454648
Belyi, V.A., Levine, A.J., Skalka, A.M. Sequences from ancestral single-stranded DNA viruses in vertebrate genomes: the parvoviridae and circoviridae are more than 40 to 50 million years old. J. Virol. 84:12458-12462, 2010. PMCID: PMC297638 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20861255
Belyi, V.A., Levine, A.J., Skalka, A.M. Unexpected inheritance: multiple integrations of ancient bornavirus and ebolavirus/marburgvirus sequences in vertebrate genomes. PLoS Pathog. 6:e1001030, 2010. PMCID: PMC2912400 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20686665
Poleshko, A., Einarson, M.B., Shalginskikh, N., Zhang, R., Adams, P.D., Skalka, A.M., Katz, R.A. Identification of a functional network of human epigenetic silencing factors. J. Biol. Chem. 285:422-433, 2010. PMCID: PMC2804189 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19880521
Andrake, M.D., Ramcharan, J., Merkel, G., Zhao, X.Z., Burke, T.R., Jr., Skalka, A.M. Comparison of metal-dependent catalysis by HIV-1 and ASV integrase proteins using a new and rapid, moderate throughput assay for joining activity in solution. AIDS Res. Ther. 6:14, 2009. PMCID: PMC2717984 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19563676
Merkel, G., Andrake, M.D., Ramcharan, J., Skalka, A.M. Oligonucleotide-based assays for integrase activity. Methods 47:243-248, 2009. PMCID: PMC2743288 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19010419
Andrake, M.D., Sauter, M.M., Boland, K., Goldstein, A.D., Hussein, M., Skalka, A.M. Nuclear import of Avian Sarcoma Virus integrase is facilitated by host cell factors. Retrovirology 5:73, 2008. PMCID: PMC2527327 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18687138