Partho Ghosh
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Our research is focused on understanding mechanisms used by microbial
pathogens to cause infectious disease. In particular, we are studying
how bacterial pathogens manipulate host cell behavior to effect
infection. Bacterial pathogens are a re-emerging threat to human
health and welfare due to the increasing incidence of multidrug
resistant strains, and a number of bacterial pathogens also pose
threats as bioterror agents. The process of manipulating host cell
behavior almost always occurs through interaction between bacterial
proteins, termed virulence factors, and host cell proteins. These
interactions then trigger a set of changes in the host cell that
are beneficial to the infection process. We seek to understand
the role of host-pathogen interactions in infection at the molecular
and cellular levels through a variety of techniques, including
structural biology, biochemistry, genetics, and cell biology.
Of primary interest are mechanisms used by intracellular pathogens
to gain entry into host cells. A large variety of pathogens are
known to adopt an intracellular lifestyle, and we have been dissecting
how such pathogens gain entry into non-phagocytic host cells. In
this area, we have focused on InlB, a protein that effects invasion
of the bacterial, food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes into
a wide variety of mammalian cells. We are also studying the type
III secretion system, a mechanism used by a wide variety of Gram-negative
bacterial pathogens to inject proteins directly into host cells.
We are trying to understand the secretion process in the bacterial
pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, as well as the function of
bacterial proteins that are translocated by other bacterial pathogens,
such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa.