Rate My Professor Robert Skibbens

Professor Robert V. Skibbens serves as Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he conducted his thesis research under Dr. E. D. Salmon, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Ohio State University. His postdoctoral training encompassed fellowships at the Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institute of Washington in Baltimore, Maryland with Dr. Doug Koshland; the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with Dr. Phil Hieter; T Cell Sciences, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Department of Biochemistry, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Throughout his career, Skibbens has held appointments advancing from postdoctoral researcher to his current professorial role at Lehigh University, focusing on cell and molecular biology.

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.