Despite the use of vaccines and antibiotics these remain a leading source of morbidity and mortality in early life. The focus is on the identification and characterization of bacterial factors of importance in the commensal and pathologic interaction with the human host in order to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in infection. The organisms studied in the lab display phase variation which appears to be an adaptive mechanism to varied challenges encountered by an organism in vivo. Understanding how an organism adapts to these challenges will further understanding of its life cycle in its human host. The lab is currently analyzing the molecular aspects of phase variation of cell surface molecules in two different pathogens.
Pathogenesis is studied using animal models of infection.
A number of rotation projects looking at potential virulence determinants are available with either project. Of the many species of bacteria which colonize the upper respiratory tract, only a few have the ability to survive normal host clearance mechanisms protecting the lower respiratory tract. The mechanisms allowing these few pathogens to survive innate and acquired immunity in this host environment are poorly understood. Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae . Both of these species rely on phase variation of multiple cell-surface structures to meet the different requirements of colonization and infection.