Dr.Andrea Skantar was raised in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1984, sheearned a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University. She was awarded an NIH training grant to pursue graduate studies in Biochemistry at Duke University where she analyzed the structure and function of the RNA polymerase II transcription complex in Drosophila melanogaster under the guidance of Arno Greenleaf.

After completing her Ph.D. in 1993, Dr. Skantar applied her molecular skills to the root-knot nematode.  She worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Dr. Charlie Opperman at North Carolina State University. She developed resistance to root-knot nematode in tobacco via expression of the cellular toxin barnase, driven by the nematode-inducible promoter TobRB7.

Dr. Skantar is appointed with USDA-ARS in the Nematology Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

Dr Skantar was the 2008 recipient of the Society of Nematologists' Syngenta Award.

Source:  Nematology Newsletter 54(2):5