Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites 

Harlan D. Caldwell, Ph.D., Chief

The Laboratory of Intracellular Parasites (LICP) investigates the biology, pathogenesis, and immunity of intracellular prokaryotic pathogens such as Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Francisella tularensis, Coxiella burnetii, and Salmonella typhimurium. These agents are important causes of sexually transmitted diseases, preventable blindness, and chronic heart disease, and they are also Category A and B bioterrorism agents. The long-term goal of the laboratory is the development of new and effective control strategies against intracellular bacterial parasitic infection.

Modern biological, molecular, and immunological tools are employed to understand pathogen ligand-receptor interactions, pathogen vesicle maturation and trafficking, parasite manipulation of host cell signal transduction pathways, and host immune response to infection. Pathogen and host gene expression are being analyzed at the transcriptome and proteome levels under experimental conditions that manifest both acute and persistent infection environments to profile novel pathogen genes that function in the pathogenesis of infection. Animal models of infection are being employed to define immune effector mechanisms that function in adaptive protective immunity and to test promising vaccine candidates.

Chlamydial Pathogenesis Section

Harlan D. Caldwell, Ph.D.

Coxiella Pathogenesis Section

Robert A. Heinzen, Ph.D.

Host-Parasite Interactions Section

David W. (Ted) Hackstadt, Ph.D.

Immunity to Pulmonary Pathogens Section

Catharine (Katy) Bosio, Ph.D.

Salmonella Host-Cell Interactions Section

Olivia Steele-Mortimer, Ph.D.

Tularemia Pathogenesis Section

Jean Celli, Ph.D.

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