The mission of the Center for Integrated Solutions in Infectious Diseases (CISID) is to bridge basic science research and the clinical pursuit to transform our understanding of human infection and immunity. We seek to learn about infection directly from patients, seamless with the clinical endeavor, taking what we study and learn in the lab and determine its relevance to human infection. Ultimately, we aim to apply insights that emerge from CISID to impact patient care.
The rise in antimicrobial resistance poses a major threat to human health. We seek to unveil the underlying mechanisms of resistance – including those evolved by pathogens and the host factors that contribute to resistance evolution – and to devise new strategies to prevent, detect, and treat infections.
The body’s natural immune defense plays a critical role in combating pathogens. We seek to understand the critical molecular and cellular underpinnings of who is at risk for infection, how the immune system responds to microbes, and how to recruit host factors to improve outcomes.
Infection triggers a cascade of changes in the metabolism of both the host and the microbe, which is integral to the pathogen-host interaction. We seek to understand how pathogens impact and are impacted by the metabolic pathways of their hosts – and vice versa – to determine outcomes of infection.
We analyze pathogen genomes to understand how variations in sequences contribute to functional differences in pathogen behavior including evading the host’s immune system.
Sepsis is a life-threatening medical condition caused by a dysregulated immune response to infection. It is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. We seek to uncover the factors that lead to heterogenous outcomes, and the molecular and cellular immune mechanisms that determine disease severity, thereby leading to the development of biomarkers and strategies to improve patient outcomes.
We strive to leverage cutting edge technologies based on biological insight to discover novel biomarkers and develop new diagnostic tools that can accurately and rapidly detect disease, predict disease severity, and track disease progression.