Vibrio cholerae
Addressing the health problems of developing countries, Faruque has contributed significantly to the understanding of natural mechanisms associated with the emergence of bacterial pathogens. Although he has conducted significant work in understanding the epidemiology and transmission of "Shigella" and diarrhoeagenic "Escherichia coli" infections, his major contribution is in the epidemiology and genetics of "Vibrio cholerae", the causative agent of cholera epidemics. In collaboration with John Mekalanos, Adele H. Lehman Professor of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Faruque has contributed extensively to the recent understanding of the epidemiology, transmissibility and ecology of "Vibrio cholerae". Their work showed the genetic basis for the origin and evolution of new "Vibrio cholerae" strains with epidemic potential and the role of bacteriophages in this process. They characterised several novel filamentous phages (e.g., KSF-1, RS1 and TLC satellite phages) of "Vibrio cholerae", and contributed substantially to understanding the molecular mechanisms for transmission of these phages, and their role in "Vibrio cholerae" evolution. Faruque has proposed models to explain the role of environmental and host factors and lytic bacteriophages in the ecology of "Vibrio cholerae", that supports a self-limiting nature of seasonal cholera epidemics. Currently his team is conducting cutting edge research in CRISPR-Cas systems carried by bacterial viruses or bacteriophages. It is vital to generate more knowledge on the underlying diversity and functions of this system to fully realize the potential of technologies like CRISPR gene editing.