Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an obligate human pathogen whose only significant reservoir is the human host. Of the 6 billion world inhabitants, 2 billion are infected with latentM. tb. and approximately 8 million have active, transmissible tuberculosis. A strategy to block transmission from the 8 million active cases to the 4... (more)

(Research for the first 1½ years was conducted at Cornell University.)

It has been known for decades that a natural resistance mechanism for viral infections involves the production of interferons by infected cells. This family of antiviral molecules acts upon other cells to make them resistant to viral infection. Interferons induce the expression of a large number of molecules in the... (more)

Fungal infections have emerged as a worldwide problem of appalling dimensions because of the AIDS epidemic. Although fungi of all types afflict immunocompromised individuals, Candida albicans is the most frequent cause of disease. One key to Candida’s pathogenesis is its ability to switch from a yeast form to a filamentous form. This... (more)

The identification of features that are pathogen-specific and sensitive to therapeutic agents is fundamental to treating infectious human diseases. This proposal focuses on a feature common to a wide range of pathogenic RNA viruses: the absence of poly(A) tails on the viral... (more)

The rapid spreading of Plasmodium falciparum strains that are resistant to current antimalarial therapy has focused the attention of the research community on the urgent need to identify new therapeutic targets, leading to novel therapies. Our laboratories have a long-standing commitment to... (more)

(Research for the first 3 years was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Elisabetta Ullu at Yale University School of Medicine.)

Genome projects and high throughput methods for profiling gene statement using cDNAs and oligonucleotides have revolutionized biology by providing tools for simultaneous assessment of... (more)

This research involves mechanisms that lead to secretion of certain types of molecules, termed cytokines, that activated lymphocytes make in mediating protective immunity. Funding from the Ellison Medical Foundation will enable the establishment of mice engineered to express genetically marked cytokine genes that allow activated cells to be... (more)

Our understanding of the microorganisms that inhabit the human body is woefully inadequate. The diversity, abundance, and activities of these microorganisms are all matters of both importance and ignorance. This might seem surprising given that the human body contains far more microbial cells... (more)