Timothy L. Cover, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology. Dr. Cover received a B.S. degree in Biology from Muhlenberg College and an M.D. degree from Duke University. Following an Internal Medicine residency at Penn State University, he completed an Infectious Diseases Fellowship at University of Colorado.
When and how did you decide to become a scientist?
My original plan was to become either a classical musician or a physician or some combination of the two. I enjoyed working on a small research project as an undergrad student and another small project as a med student, but I didn’t seriously consider a scientific research career. During my Infectious Diseases fellowship I became involved in some research projects that caught my interest, and that’s when I first considered the possibility of undertaking scientific research as one of my main activities.
How long have you been with VUMC?
I moved to Nashville in 1989 to complete my Infectious Diseases fellowship. At that time, my wife and I had a well-crafted plan to stay at Vanderbilt for one or two years and then move to another part of the country. Our plans changed somewhere along the way, and as a result, I’ve had the good fortune of being continuously part of the Vanderbilt community for the past 30 years.
What does your lab do/study?
The projects in my lab are focused on bacterial infections, bacteria-host interactions, and the role of bacteria in development of cancer. We are particularly interested in the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role as a causative agent of stomach cancer. H. pylori is the only bacterial species that commonly causes cancer in humans, and it has been designated as a Class I carcinogen by the World Health Organization. One of our main goals is to understand how colonization of the stomach by H. pylori can lead to stomach cancer. Another main goal is to understand why some H. pylori-infected individuals develop stomach cancer, whereas most others remain asymptomatic or derive health benefits. We investigate these topics using a multidisciplinary approach. For example, several projects involve the study of H. pylori toxins or mechanisms by which H. pylori proteins are delivered into human cells.
Top Row L to R: Rhonda Caston, Aung Soe Lin, Mark McClain, Georgia Caso
Middle Row L to R: John Loh, Mandy Truelock, Tim Cover, Lorena Harvey
Bottom Row L to R: Jennifer Shuman, Sirena Tran, Neha Sawhney
What is one topic in your field that you are excited about right now?
Some strains of H. pylori produce a protein called CagA, which alters how stomach cells grow and divide. For many years, it was presumed that the bacteria inject CagA into stomach cells using a specific secretion system, but this was mostly a theoretical concept and we had very little understanding of the process or the secretion system. Over the past few years, we have collaborated with several labs, including Dr. Borden Lacy (Vanderbilt), Dr. Melanie Ohi (Univ. of Michigan), and Drs. Peter Christie and Bo Hu (McGovern Medical School, Houston), on experiments that allow us to directly visualize this secretion system. The results allow us to understand how numerous pieces of the secretion system fit together to form a complex molecular nanomachine and set the stage for lots of future studies in which we will learn more about how this secretion system works.
Give us some good recent articles to read that's related to your field of study.
Nejman D et al. “The human tumor microbiome is composed of tumor type-specific intracellular bacteria.” Science 2020;368:973-980.
What is one piece of advice you'd give to a new graduate student?
I encourage new grad students to become involved in creative research projects that span more than one scientific discipline.
One tip for striking a good work-life balance.
Success in research isn’t necessarily proportional to the numbers of hours spent on the work. From my perspective, there’s some real value to daydreaming and pursuing interests that are completely unrelated to work.
Cover Lab's newest Graduate Students, Mandy Truelock and Sirena Tran (May 2020)
Cover Lab with member Dr. Rhonda Caston after her Open Defense (March 2020)
The Cover Lab is recruiting!
They are actively recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Examples of projects currently underway in the lab include investigation of (i) secreted H. pylori toxins (VacA and CagA), (ii) an H. pylori type IV secretion system that delivers CagA into gastric epithelial cells, (iii) H. pylori outer membrane proteins that interact with host cells, (iv) H. pylori-induced alterations in host cells and animal models, (v) dietary composition as a determinant of gastric cancer risk, and (vi) strain-specific H. pylori constituents that are determinants of gastric cancer risk.
