Parasites and Pathogens

Parasites and Pathogens

Labs studying Parasites and Pathogens

Chuong Lab

The Chuong Lab investigates the evolution and function of gene regulatory networks, or the choreography of gene activity in response to specific cues. They are particularly interested in virus-derived “DNA parasites” that have been co-opted by human genomes over evolutionary time and are responsible for biological landmarks such as the placenta and human-specific immune system traits.

Figueroa Lab

The Figueroa-Morales Lab studies soft matter physics at the interface of microorganisms and the environment (such as bacteria moving through human mucus) using tools like microfluidics and quantitative video microscopy. They address practical problems like the transport of microorganisms in the environment and the prevention and treatment of medical conditions.

Garcea Lab

The Garcea Lab studies small DNA viruses and their assembly by integrating medicine, chemical engineering, and virology. They apply this research to develop next generation vaccines that are inexpensive, heat stable, multi-dose and multi-valent to solve global problems in vaccine access and equity.

Hill Lab

The Hill Lab studies how gut microbes impact the pancreas. Their research has implications for Type I Diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and fetal pancreas development. Their goal is to develop microbially-derived treatments to prevent or reverse disease.

Kissler Lab

The Kissler Lab seeks to make the world more resilient to infectious diseases by studying how pathogens interact; how our bodies, communities, and societies respond to infection; and how epidemics compound other major threats to our well-being using the latest data, statistics, and computational methods.

Larremore Lab

The Larremore Lab develops computational methods and mathematical models rooted in network science, dynamical systems, and statistical inferences and applies them to real-world problems spanning infectious diseases and social sciences. Their work has been used globally to inform on critical public health policies.

Mukherjee Lab

The Mukherjee Lab investigates the flow, transport, and mechanical underpinnings of physiological processes and develops tools for disease biomechanics, medical device design, treatment planning, and drug delivery. A primary application area is in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular processes in healthy and diseased states, like stroke, thrombosis, and embolisms.

Ramsey Lab

The Ramsey Lab focuses on pollinator health with an emphasis on understanding the parasitic mechanisms of bee symbionts, such as parasitic mites, to combat the pollinator pandemic. They also aim to catalog emergent parasites in the native bee ranges of Southeast Asia to prevent future pollinator pandemics. They combine field-based work with technologically creative laboratory-based bee studies.

Sawyer Lab

The Sawyer Lab studies animal viruses that infect humans through a combination of bioinformatics, genomics, and evolutionary theory. They are uncovering the viral properties that lead to this “virus spillover” to learn what leads to global pandemics such as HIV-AIDS and COVID-19. Their goal is to prevent this through rapid identification with new test design and through vaccine development.

Sprenger Lab

The Sprenger Rationally Designed Immunotherapeutics & Interfaces (RDI) Research Group employs modern computational techniques to tackle big problems, from infectious diseases to climate change. This includes molecular simulation, mathematical modeling, and machine learning techniques to describe complex interfacial phenomena, such as pathogen-antibody (for vaccine design) and small molecule-cell membrane (for treating brain-based diseases).