Stavroula Hatzios
Member of the Microbial Sciences Institute
Member of Yale faculty since 2017
Research Interests
Research
Molecular interactions between microbial and host cells can profoundly impact human health and disease. My lab uses chemical tools to discover proteins, post-translational modifications, and metabolites that shape host–microbe interactions in the gastrointestinal tract. Our primary goal is to understand how bacterial and host cells adapt to oxidative stress during infection. We use a combination of chemical proteomics, genetics, and infection models to identify proteins that are post-translationally modified by oxidative stress and to determine how protein oxidation affects host–microbe interactions. In addition, we use mass spectrometry-based approaches to identify metabolites and catabolic pathways that shape redox homeostasis at the host–microbe interface. Finally, we are developing new tools for the precise detection and inhibition of pathogenic bacteria within complex microbial communities like the gut microbiota. By bridging the fields of chemistry and microbiology, we strive to develop new approaches that will increase basic understanding of host–microbe interactions and generate new leads for therapeutic targets, activity-based diagnostics, and drug-delivery systems.
Education
B.S. in chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005
Ph.D. in chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 2010
Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Fellow in microbial pathogenesis, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 2011-2016
Honors
Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry, 2024
American Chemical Society Division of Biological Chemistry/ACS Infectious Diseases Young Investigator Award, 2023
Conquer Cancer Now Award, 2020
NIGMS Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators, 2020
Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2020
Scialog Fellow: Microbiome, Neurobiology and Disease, 2020
American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant Pilot Award, 2018
Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2014-2016
NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (T32), 2013
Thomas C. Alber Science and Engineering for Global Health Fellowship, 2010
Selected Publications
Baskerville MJ, Kovalyova Y, Mejías-Luque R, Gerhard M, and Hatzios SK. (2023) “Isotope tracing reveals bacterial catabolism of host-derived glutathione during Helicobacter pylori infection”, PLoS Pathog 19(7): e1011526.
Dumitrescu DG, Gordon EM*, Kovalyova Y*, Seminara AB, Duncan-Lowey B, Forster ER, Zhou W, Booth CJ, Shen A, Kranzusch PJ, and Hatzios SK. (2022) “A microbial transporter of the dietary antioxidant ergothioneine”, Cell 185: 4526-4540.e18. (*Equal contribution)
DeColli AA, Koolik IM, Seminara AB, and Hatzios SK. (2022) “A propeptide-based biosensor for the selective detection of Vibrio cholerae using an environment-sensitive fluorophore”, Cell Chem Biol 29: 1505-1516.e7.
Kovalyova Y, Bak DW, Gordon EM, Fung C, Shuman JHB, Cover TL, Amieva MR, Weerapana E, and Hatzios SK. (2022) “An infection-induced oxidation site regulates legumain processing and tumor growth,” Nat Chem Biol 18: 698-705.