FACULTY

The Barton lab studies RNA viruses - viral RNA replication - and host-pathogen interactions involving viral RNA and endoribonucleases.

The Berg lab studies T cell activation and differentiation with a focus on how differences in TCR signal strength determine T cell functions. As a mentor I have successfully trained over 20 PhD students. To further improve my mentoring skills I have taken university-sponsored mentorship, bias, and equity training and aim to create an inclusive environment in my laboratory.

The Clark lab investigates bacterial-driven immune modulation in the respiratory tract. The upper respiratory tract is home to a diverse microbial community that includes both commensal and opportunistic bacterial pathogens. Research in the lab explores how exposure to these bacteria influences upper and lower respiratory tract inflammation and disease, with a focus on the innate immune response to acute infection.

The Colgan Lab studies mucosal inflammation with focus on intestinal inflammation in the context of inflammatory bowel disease and other GI diseases. Studies are aimed at understanding how epithelial and endothelial cells coordinate barrier function and inflammatory responses at mucosal surfaces. Our lab takes a multifaceted approach by investigating the relationships between gut microbiota, host immune system, genetic background, and environmental influences as it pertains to mucosal health and disease, with research emphasis on energy metabolism, host-microbe interactions, hypoxia-inducible factor, and innate immunity.

The overall interest of the Doran Lab is the study of host - pathogen interactions in the central nervous system and the female reproductive tract. Our studies focus on major human pathogens including Streptococcus agalactiae (also known as Group B Streptococcus, GBS), a leading cause of invasive disease in newborns and certain adult populations including pregnant women. We seek to elucidate the mechanisms by which GBS colonizes the vaginal tract during pregnancy and penetrates the blood-brain barrier in the newborn to cause meningitis, as well as characterize host response to infection and colonization.

The Duerkop lab studies bacterial viruses (bacteriophages or phages) and their interactions with their hosts. The long-term goal of the Duerkop lab is to understand how phages and other forms of mobile DNA contribute to host-microbe interactions in the intestine and their overall impact on human health.

Pulmonary complications of HIV infection.

Human microbiome in health and disease, Pathogen genomics, and Computational biology.

Our lab is interested in understanding the complexities of humoral immunity against rapidly evolving viruses, particularly influenza viruses. Our lab has three major interests: (1) Design vaccines to induce broadly protective antibody responses against influenza viruses, (2) investigate how humoral immunity develops at distinct anatomical locations and impacts immunity against future influenza virus exposures, and (3) define how humoral immunity drives viral evolution.

Respiratory microbiota and model system microbiota.

We are a research laboratory of RNA biologists, technology developers, and data analysts focused on discovering and translating fundamental principles of RNA regulation. A major effort in the lab is to understand how RNA damage and repair are integrated with stress responses by combining method development, bioinformatics, genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology.

The role of monocytes and macrophages in inflammation and host defense in chronic lung disease

Research in the Horswill laboratory is focused on the physiology and pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus. We are also interested in commensal bacterial interactions with S. aureus, development of new treatment approaches, and we’re starting projects on Gram negative pathogens.

His primary areas of study are Immunology, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Internal medicine, Vaccination and Viral disease. His Immunology research is mostly focused on the topic Immune system. His work carried out in the field of Immune system brings together such families of science as Antibody and Antigen.

The major focus of my research program is to elucidate pathways of innate immunity that can distinguish harmless microbes from pathogens, thereby enabling the host to mount responses that are commensurate with the threat.

The central hypothesis of our laboratory is that commensal microbes at the intestinal mucosal surface modulate local adaptive immune responses that affect the development of autoimmunity.

The research in our laboratory focuses on new generation HIV-1 inhibitors and virus-host interactions. We employ complementary biochemistry, structural biology, pharmacology, molecular biology and virology approaches.

Our research uses microbes and models of infection to dissect fundamental mechanisms that regulate inflammatory responses. Through study of these mechanisms and their impact on infection and other inflammation-associated diseases, we strive to uncover new biology and to identify novel drug targets and treatments relevant to infectious, inflammatory, or cancerous diseases.

We combine bioinformatics and experimental work to understand the driving factors of human microbiota composition, host:microbe interactions, and the intersection with diet in a variety of disease contexts. Our work has a particular focus on HIV-positive and high HIV-risk populations, cancer and Clostridioides difficile infection.​

Emerging infections are a global public health threat. In the 21st century alone, we already have experienced devastating outbreaks of infectious disease, including diseases caused by mosquito-borne (e.g., chikungunya and Zika viruses) and respiratory RNA viruses (e.g., SARS-CoV-2). Our laboratory seeks to improve our knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of these infections (i.e., what are the critical host-pathogen interactions that contribute to protection or pathology?) by addressing questions at the interface of immunology and virology/parasitology.

The mission of Dr. Maria Nagel’s lab is to dissect mechanisms by which viruses evade immune clearance and produce aberrant, chronic inflammation that leads to disease corresponding to affected sites. Research is predominantly focused on the pathogenesis of varicella zoster virus (VZV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV), as well as new exploratory studies on SARS-CoV-2. By understanding virus-host interactions, we can identify biomarkers that would assist clinicians in disease diagnosis and prognosis, as well as identify pathways that can be targeted to treat infection and associated inflammation.

Fungi are normal members of the human gut microbiome that are benign commensals in people. However, fungi can become pathogenic when the microbiome or immune system is perturbed. Candida species dominating the gut fungal community are notorious opportunistic pathogens capable of causing life-threatening disseminated infections. Candida species can also drive pathogenic inflammation in the gut and are associated with worsened inflammatory bowel disease in people. It is still largely a mystery as to how these fungi reside peacefully in the gut of most people. The goal of the Ost lab is to uncover the immune forces that constrain these fungi to a commensal state to prevent disease.

Delineating the effects of HIV infection on T cell function.

Our lab studies host-pathogen interactions with the goal of defining host and bacterial pathways involved in bacterial persistence.

We aim to study the chemical ecology of environmental and host-derived microbiome communities by developing broadly accessible experimental approaches. We accomplish this goal by combining modern and classical tools and techniques from a variety of scientific fields, including chemistry, microbiology, cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry.

His research group investigates the roles that cellular proteins play in viral replication cycles, and innate immune system factors that mediate frontline antiviral defenses and prevent cross-species virus transmission. They are interested in cellular systems that sense and respond defensively to viral RNA and DNA and also prevent autoimmunity to self nucleic acids.

Dr. Janani Ravi is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Biomedical Informatics with ties to Dept. of Immunology and Microbiology. She completed her PhD in Computational Biology at Virginia Tech, postdoctoral research at the Rutgers Public Health Research Institute, and started her research group at Michigan State University prior to moving to CU in late 2022. Dr. Ravi’s research group, JRaviLab, develops general-purpose computational approaches that integrate large-scale heterogeneous public datasets for mechanistic understanding of microbial genotypes, phenotypes, and diseases. The JRaviLab asks: How do we link pathogen genotypes to phenotypes? How can host responses to infection inform disease mechanistics and therapeutics? Her group provides open data/software and easy-to-use web applications for biomedical researchers, and the methods are developed to be pathogen- and disease-agnostic. Dr. Ravi is currently supported by an NIH NIAID U01 (antimicrobial resistance prediction) and R21 (host responses, host-directed therapeutics), two CU CPMR-DBMI dyads (bone health, implant corrosion), Colorado Translational Research Scholar Program, and an NIH NLM T15 supporting her postdoc. Dr. Ravi is engaged and committed to mentoring/training, education, and outreach, and creating and sustaining diversity and inclusivity in data science for learners and professionals alike, focused on increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities in the field. She founded R-Ladies East Lansing and R-Ladies Aurora, and co-founded Women+ Data Science and AsiaR. She also co-chairs the R/Bioconductor Community Advisory Board.

Our research program focuses on type-2 immunity in pulmonary disease. We are interested in understanding how T cells and innate lymphoid cells orchestrate type-2 inflammation to protect against infection, promote tissue repair, and suppress the onset of allergic and autoimmune disease.

I am a systems neuroscientist with a background in physics studying sensory decision making and neurological disorders using novel genomics, transcriptomics, computational neuroscience, automated behavioral testing, advanced neurophotonics and multielectrode arrays. I believe that diversity, equity and inclusion are key in neuroscience inquiry.

The Russo lab is interested in understanding how bacterial pathogens interact with their hosts. As a model, we investigate the pathogenesis of Shigella flexneri, which infects cells of the colon and causes diarrhea in humans.

Our laboratory studies the interplay between the innate and adaptive immune response against retroviruses to conceptually advance vaccine and cure strategies against HIV/AIDS. We are specifically interested in “restriction factors” – host proteins that could directly inhibit retroviruses but we discovered also play critical roles in shaping adaptive immune responses. These factors could be regulated by Type I interferons, thus highlighting possibilities for clinical translation.

The focus of research efforts in my laboratory is on the pathogenic mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, specifically in cystic fibrosis (CF) chronic respiratory infections.

The overall goal of the Theiss Lab is to elucidate the role and mechanism whereby mitochondrial signaling pathways in intestinal epithelial cells contribute to gastrointestinal diseases, specifically inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and colorectal cancer.

His laboratory uses a variety of neurotropic viruses, including reoviruses, Enterovirus D-68, and Flaviviruses (West Nile, Japanese encephalitis and Zika) to study the pathogenesis of viral CNS infections. A particular interest has been in understanding the nature of specific cellular pathways (signaling, gene expression, apoptosis) that are activated during neurotropic viral infections and that lead to neuronal injury and death. The laboratory uses primary cell cultures, ex vivo slice cultures of brain and spinal cord, and murine models to study virus-cell interactions.

The van Dyk lab studies the interactions between virus and host in health and disease. Specifically, our work focuses on gammaherpesviruses.

The research in the Vázquez-Torres lab uses state-of-the-art biochemical, genetic and molecular biology approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms by which reactive species mediate resistance of macrophages against intracellular bacteria, as well as the adaptive strategies that boost antioxidant and antinitrosative defenses of pathogenic bacteria.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis survival during latent disease.

The biological functions of a cell are heavily influenced by its surrounding environment. This influence is achieved mostly through membrane proteins that mediate various informational exchange between the two bodies. Thus, it is vitally important to understand how these membrane proteins function, which is the overarching goal of our research. The main tools we use in the laboratory are cryo electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography.