Animal Health Research Center, Department of Infectious Diseases
Professor
Expertise

Animal Models of Human Disease | Bacteriology | Cell Culture | Disease Modeling | Immunology | Infectious Diseases | Microbiology | Pathogenesis | Vaccinology | Vector-Borne Diseases | Virology | Zoonotic Diseases

Biography

One component of my research program consists of identifying and characterizing surface antigens expressed by pathogenic bacteria including Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia mallei. Given their cellular location at the host-pathogen interface, surface antigens play key roles in bacterial virulence. We believe that studying their biological functions will shed light on how the organisms cause disease and provide critical knowledge to develop medical countermeasures. Another component of my research program consists of developing animal models to study microbial pathogenesis, examine the role of surface antigens in bacterial virulence, and develop countermeasures against a variety of infectious agents including Burkholderia pseudomallei and mallei, pathogenic Brucella species, Moraxella catarrhalis, SARS-CoV2, and influenza.

Research Interests

  • Bacterial pathogenesis
  • Development of countermeasures for high containment/high consequence infectious agents
  • Animal models of infection

Selected Publications

PubMed

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passion powers our commitment.