Titles and Education

1. Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, (2019-2026), Dr. Eric Skaar Laboratory
2. Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology (Microbiology) University of Pennsylvania (2019)
3. B.S. in Microbiology - University of Puerto Rico-Humacao (2014)
4. Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine (2026-Present)

Research

The Reyes Ruiz Lab is interested in the interaction of immune cells with bacterial pathogens. Our lab combines immunology, microbiology, and cell biology tools to uncover factors of the host and bacteria that determine the outcome of infection using both in vitro and in vivo models of infection. Our research program focused on discovering new antibacterial effectors in immune cells that target the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and defining how bacteria adapt to stress imposed by the host.

Recent Publications

1. Green ER, Negretti NM, Brunner TH, Shealy NG, Moser FA, Drury SL, Traina KA, Reyes Ruiz VM, Yang TS, Lehmann CJ, Byndloss MX, van de Plas R, Zackular JP, Light SH, Sucre JMS, Skaar EP. (2026) The intestinal microbiota impacts nutritional immunity and resistance to Acinetobacter baumannii pneumonia, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (17) e2534432123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2534432123.
2. Freiberg JA, Reyes Ruiz VM, Gimza BD, Murdoch CC, Green ER, Curry JM, Cassat JE, Skaar EP. (2024). Restriction of arginine induces antibiotic tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus. Nat Commun 15:6734. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51144-9. PMID: 39112491; PMCID: PMC11306626.
3. Reyes Ruiz VM, Freiberg JA, Weiss A, Green ER, Jobson M-E, Felton E, Shaw LN, Chazin WJ, Skaar EP. (2024) Coordinated adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus to calprotectin-dependent metal sequestration. mBio. 15(7):e0138924. doi: 10.1128/mbio.01389-24. PMID: 38920392; PMCID: PMC11253595.
4. Naseer N*, Egan MS*, Reyes Ruiz VM*, Scott WP, Hunter EN, Demissie T, Rauch I, Brodsky IE, Shin S. (2022) Human NAIP/NLRC4 and NLRP3 inflammasomes detect Salmonella type III secretion system activities to restrict intracellular bacterial replication. PLoS Pathogens. 18(1):e1009718. https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1009718. *These authors contributed equally
5. Reyes Ruiz VM, Ramirez J, Naseer N, Palacio NM, Siddarthan IJ, Yan BM, Boyer MA, Pensinger DA, Sauer JD, Shin S. (2017) Broad detection of bacterial type III secretion system and flagellin proteins by the human NAIP/NLRC4 inflammasome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U.S.A. 114(50):13242-13247. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710433114.