Scholars@Duke
Stacey Ann Maskarinec

Stacey Ann Maskarinec

Associate Professor of Medicine
Medicine, Infectious Diseases

Selected Publications

Strategies for improved endothelial cell adhesion in microphysiological vascular model systems.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2025 Human tissue-engineered blood vessels (TEBVs) have been applied as model systems to study a wide range of vascular diseases including Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome and early atherosclerosis. Central to the utility of TEBVs as an in vitro blood vesse ... Full text Link to item Cite

Persistent Gram-negative Bloodstream Infection Increases the Risk of Recurrent Bloodstream Infection With the Same Species.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · June 14, 2024 The association between persistent gram-negative bloodstream infection (GN-BSI), or ongoing positive cultures, and recurrent GN-BSI has not been investigated. Among 992 adults, persistent GN-BSI was associated with increased recurrent GN-BSI with the same ... Full text Link to item Cite

Female Sex and Mortality in Patients with Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · February 5, 2024 IMPORTANCE: Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of death due to bacterial bloodstream infection. Female sex has been identified as a risk factor for mortality in S aureus bacteremia (SAB) in some studies, but not in others. OBJECTIVE: To determine w ... Full text Link to item Cite

Risk Factors and Outcomes of Hematogenous Vertebral Osteomyelitis in Patients With Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia.

Journal Article Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · November 2023 BackgroundHematogenous vertebral osteomyelitis (HVOM) is an incompletely understood complication of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB).MethodsEligible SAB patients with and without HVOM were prospectively enrolled from 1995 through 20 ... Full text Cite

Black and White Patients With Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Have Similar Outcomes but Different Risk Factors.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 3, 2023 BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) disproportionately affects Black patients. The reasons for this disparity are unclear. METHODS: We evaluated a prospectively ascertained cohort of patients with SAB from 1995 to 2020. Clinical characterist ... Full text Link to item Cite

Neutrophil functional heterogeneity is a fixed phenotype and is associated with distinct gene expression profiles.

Journal Article J Leukoc Biol · December 2022 Differences in the ability of neutrophils to perform relevant effector functions has been identified in a variety of disease states. Although neutrophil functional heterogeneity is increasingly recognized during disease, few studies have examined neutrophi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association of Follow-up Blood Cultures With Mortality in Patients With Gram-Negative Bloodstream Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · September 1, 2022 IMPORTANCE: Obtaining follow-up blood cultures (FUBCs) in patients with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (BSI) is standard practice, although its utility in patients with gram-negative bacterial BSI (GN-BSI) is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To examine whe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia Among Patients Receiving Maintenance Hemodialysis: Trends in Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes.

Journal Article Am J Kidney Dis · March 2022 RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Staphylococcus aureus (Saureus) bacteremia (SAB) is associated with morbidity and mortality in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis (HD). We evaluated changes in clinical and bacterial characteristics, and their associations w ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Bacterial genotype and clinical outcomes in solid organ transplant recipients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

Journal Article Transpl Infect Dis · December 2021 INTRODUCTION: Outcomes from Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients are poorly understood. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study comparing the bacterial genotype and clinical outcomes of SAB among SOT and non ... Full text Link to item Cite

Infective endocarditis and solid organ transplantation: Only worse outcomes during initial transplantation hospitalization.

Journal Article Am Heart J · October 2021 BACKGROUND: The epidemiology, and outcome of infective endocarditis (IE) among solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients is unknown. METHODS: We used data from the 2013-2018 Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD). IE- and SOT-associated hospitalizations were ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Bacteremia in solid organ transplant recipients as compared to immunocompetent patients: Acute phase cytokines and outcomes in a prospective, matched cohort study.

Journal Article Am J Transplant · June 2021 We undertook a prospective, matched cohort study of patients with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) and gram-negative bacteremia (GNB) to compare the characteristics, outcomes, and chemokine and cytokine response in transplant recipients to immunocomp ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Surgical infection prophylaxis prior to left ventricular assist device implantation: A survey of clinical practice.

Journal Article J Card Surg · October 2020 BACKGROUND: Short duration, antimicrobial prophylaxis that includes antistaphylococcal activity is recommended at the time of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation to reduce infection-related complications. There continues to be wide variabili ... Full text Link to item Cite

Positive follow-up blood cultures identify high mortality risk among patients with Gram-negative bacteraemia.

Journal Article Clin Microbiol Infect · July 2020 OBJECTIVES: The role of follow-up blood cultures (FUBCs) in the management of Gram-negative bacteraemia (GNB) is poorly understood. We aimed to determine the utility of FUBCs in identifying patients with increased mortality risk. METHODS: An observational ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Risk stratification biomarkers for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia.

Journal Article Clin Transl Immunology · 2020 OBJECTIVES: To identify risk stratification biomarkers to enrich for the subset of Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia patients who develop deep-seated tissue infections with high morbidity and mortality to guide clinical trial enrolment and clinical managem ... Full text Link to item Cite

Changing Characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia: Results From a 21-Year, Prospective, Longitudinal Study.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · November 13, 2019 BACKGROUND: We conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate changes in the clinical presentation and epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) in an academic, US medical center. METHODS: Consecutive patients with monomicrobial SAB were enrolled ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Prognostic Model of Persistent Bacteremia and Mortality in Complicated Staphylococcus aureus Bloodstream Infection.

Journal Article Clin Infect Dis · April 24, 2019 BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bacteremia, yet there remains a significant knowledge gap in the identification of relevant biomarkers that predict clinical outcomes. Heterogeneity in the host response to invasive S. aureus infectio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: an overview of basic and clinical research.

Journal Article Nat Rev Microbiol · April 2019 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most successful modern pathogens. The same organism that lives as a commensal and is transmitted in both health-care and community settings is also a leading cause of bacteraemia, endocarditi ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Prognostic Power of Pathogen Cell-Free DNA in Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · April 2019 BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus is a leading global cause of bacteremia that can cause invasive tissue infections with high morbidity and mortality despite appropriate antibiotic therapy. Clinicians lack sufficient tools to rapidly identify patients with ... Full text Link to item Cite

On-demand release of Candida albicans biofilms from urinary catheters by mechanical surface deformation.

Journal Article Biofouling · July 2018 Candida albicans is a leading cause of catheter-associated urinary tract infections and elimination of these biofilm-based infections without antifungal agents would constitute a significant medical advance. A novel urinary catheter prototype that utilizes ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structural and In Vivo Studies on Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthase from Pathogenic Fungi Provide Insights into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Biological Necessity, and Potential for Novel Antifungal Drug Design.

Journal Article mBio · July 25, 2017 The disaccharide trehalose is critical to the survival of pathogenic fungi in their human host. Trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tps1) catalyzes the first step of trehalose biosynthesis in fungi. Here, we report the first structures of eukaryotic Tps1s in c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Results from a 13-Year Prospective Cohort Study Show Increased Mortality Associated with Bloodstream Infections Caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Compared to Other Bacteria.

Journal Article Antimicrob Agents Chemother · June 2017 The impact of bacterial species on outcome in bloodstream infections (BSI) is incompletely understood. We evaluated the impact of bacterial species on BSI mortality, with adjustment for patient, bacterial, and treatment factors. From 2002 to 2015, all adul ... Full text Link to item Cite

Increased Costs Associated with Bloodstream Infections Caused by Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria Are Due Primarily to Patients with Hospital-Acquired Infections.

Journal Article Antimicrob Agents Chemother · March 2017 The clinical and economic impacts of bloodstream infections (BSI) due to multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria are incompletely understood. From 2009 to 2015, all adult inpatients with Gram-negative BSI at our institution were prospectively enro ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Evaluating genetic susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in African Americans using admixture mapping.

Journal Article Genes Immun · March 2017 The incidence of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is significantly higher in African American (AA) than in European-descended populations. We used admixture mapping (AM) to test the hypothesis that genomic variations with different frequencies in Eur ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Risk of Cardiac Device-Related Infection in Bacteremic Patients Is Species Specific: Results of a 12-Year Prospective Cohort.

Journal Article Open Forum Infect Dis · 2017 BACKGROUND: The species-specific risk of cardiac device-related infection (CDRI) among bacteremic patients is incompletely understood. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of hospitalized patients from October 2002 to December 2014 with a cardi ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Genetic Susceptibility to Fungal Infections: What is in the Genes?

Journal Article Curr Clin Microbiol Rep · June 2016 The development of severe fungal infections has long been associated with traditional risk factors such as profound immunosuppression, yet it remains challenging to understand why under similar conditions only some patients will develop these infections wh ... Full text Link to item Cite

Increased in vitro phenol-soluble modulin production is associated with soft tissue infection source in clinical isolates of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.

Journal Article J Infect · March 2016 BACKGROUND: Phenol-soluble modulins (PSM) are amphipathic proteins produced by Staphylococcus aureus that promote virulence, inflammatory response, and biofilm formation. We previously showed that MRSA isolates from soft tissue infection (SSTI) produced si ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical MRSA isolates from skin and soft tissue infections show increased in vitro production of phenol soluble modulins.

Journal Article J Infect · October 2015 BACKGROUND: Phenol-soluble modulins (PSMs) are amphipathic, pro-inflammatory proteins secreted by most Staphylococcus aureus isolates. This study tested the hypothesis that in vitro PSM production levels are associated with specific clinical phenotypes. ME ... Full text Link to item Cite

Three-dimensional traction force microscopy for studying cellular interactions with biomaterials

Conference Procedia IUTAM · January 1, 2012 The interactions between biochemical and mechanical signals during cell adhesion, migration, spreading and other processes influence cellular behavior. Three-dimensional measurement techniques are needed to investigate the effect of mechanical properties o ... Full text Cite

Quantifying cell-matrix deformations in three dimensions

Chapter · December 1, 2011 In recent years, the importance of mechanical forces in directing cellular function has been recognized as a significant factor in biological and physiological processes. A complete quantification of cell tractions during cell-material interactions can lea ... Full text Cite

Three-dimensional traction force microscopy: a new tool for quantifying cell-matrix interactions.

Journal Article PLoS One · March 29, 2011 The interactions between biochemical processes and mechanical signaling play important roles during various cellular processes such as wound healing, embryogenesis, metastasis, and cell migration. While traditional traction force measurements have provided ... Full text Link to item Cite

Quantifying cellular traction forces in three dimensions.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 29, 2009 Cells engage in mechanical force exchange with their extracellular environment through tension generated by the cytoskeleton. A method combining laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) and digital volume correlation (DVC) enables tracking and quantificat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mechanically tunable thin films of photosensitive artificial proteins: Preparation and characterization by nanoindentation

Journal Article Macromolecules · March 11, 2008 Thin films of controlled elastic modulus were made by photo-cross-linking artificial extracellular matrix (aECM) proteins containing the photosensitive amino acid p-azidophenylalanine (pN3Phe). The elastic moduli of the films were calculated fro ... Full text Cite

Three-dimensional full-field measurements of large deformations in soft materials using confocal microscopy and digital volume correlation

Journal Article Experimental Mechanics · June 1, 2007 A three-dimensional (3-D) full-field measurement technique was developed for measuring large deformations in optically transparent soft materials. The technique utilizes a digital volume correlation (DVC) algorithm to track motions of subvolumes within 3-D ... Full text Cite

Triblock copolymer as an effective membrane-sealing material

Journal Article MRS Bulletin · January 1, 2006 An intact cell membrane serves as a permeable barrier, regulating the influx and efflux of ions and small molecules. When the integrity of the membrane is compromised, its barrier function is also disrupted, threatening the survival of the cell. Triblock c ... Full text Cite

Membrane sealing by polymers.

Journal Article Ann N Y Acad Sci · December 2005 An intact cell membrane serves as a barrier, controlling the traffic of materials going into and out of the cell. When the integrity of the membrane is compromised, its transport barrier function is also disrupted, leaving the cell vulnerable to necrosis. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Protein engineering approaches to biomaterials design.

Journal Article Curr Opin Biotechnol · August 2005 Biomaterials play crucial roles in reconstructive surgery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Protein engineering offers powerful solutions to the challenges posed by the creation of well-defined, multifunctional materials that guide cell and ti ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparative study of Poloxamer insertion into lipid monolayers

Journal Article Langmuir · March 4, 2003 Surface pressure versus area isotherms have been coupled with fluorescence microscopy to compare the insertion preferences of a series of triblock copolymers of the form poly(ethylene oxide) - poly(propylene oxide) - poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO - PPO - PEO) ... Full text Cite

Direct observation of poloxamer 188 insertion into lipid monolayers.

Journal Article Biophys J · March 2002 P188, a triblock copolymer of the form poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) helps seal electroporated cell membranes, arresting the leakage of intracellular materials from the damaged cells. To explore the nature of the interacti ... Full text Link to item Cite

Membrane sealing copolymer surfactant poloxamer 188 inserts into lipid monolayers at reduced surface pressures

Journal Article Annals of Biomedical Engineering · December 1, 2000 Experiments were conducted in a Langmuir trough with Wilhelmy plate coupled to a fluorescence microscope. Monolayers of either dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and dipalmitoylphosphatidyl-glycerol (DPPG), mimicking the outer cell membrane leaflet, wer ... Cite