The EPIC faculty is a team of dedicated researchers with interests that range from understanding mechanisms of drug resistance in fungal pathogens to fatty acid metabolism in kinetoplastid parasites. We are united in our focus on some of the world’s most troubling and neglected disease-causing organisms.

Sourabh Dhingra

Biological Sciences

The overarching goal of the Dhingra lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with pathogenesis and azole drug tolerance in invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. We use molecular, biochemical and cellular approaches as well as murine models to understand the role of ncRNAs in pathobiology and azole drug tolerance of Aspergillus fumigatus.

Stephen Dolan

Genetics and Biochemistry

I study microbial interactions in human infections, specifically complex communities formed by multiple species, resulting in polymicrobial infections. My primary research focus is on respiratory infections in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF), where the abnormal mucus makes them susceptible to various bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. Instead of studying a single model organism, I intentionally pursued broad training on multiple co-infecting human pathogens (notably Aspergillus and Pseudomonas). This comprehensive, multisystem approach allows us to unravel the intricate mechanisms of communication between microbes during infection.

Linkedin

Zhicheng Dou

Biological Sciences

My research focuses on proteolytic mechanisms during infection by the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Linkedin

Cheryl Ingram-Smith

Genetics and Biochemistry

The overall goal of my research is to provide a better understanding of energy metabolism in the pathogenic protist Entamoeba histolytica.

Linkedin

Lukasz Kozubowski

Genetics and Biochemistry

We study a human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans to understand the mechanistic cellular processes used by pathogenic microorganisms to allow survival in the infected host.

Linkedin

Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte

Mechanical Engineering

Our group researches the effect of electric fields on different organisms towards optimizing their lysis, separation, enrichment, and detection in automated sample preparation and point of use diagnostics devices. Our current emphasis is the study of Candida cells. Keywords include microfluidics, dielectrophoresis, microelectrodes, and lab-on-a-chip.

Linkedin

Meredith Morris

Genetics and Biochemistry

In the search for new therapeutics, we investigate essential parasite-specific processes, believing that understanding these processes will enable us to specifically target the parasite during treatments while leaving the host relatively unaffected.

Linkedin

James Morris

Genetics and Biochemistry

Our group is interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms employed by the African trypanosome to detect glucose availability with a particular focus on identifying unique components for targeting for therapeutics.

Linkedin

Kim Paul

Genetics and Biochemistry

My group is interested in the regulation of fatty acid metabolism in the African trypanosome.

Linkedin

Emily Rosowski

Biological Sciences

My lab focuses on understanding host-pathogen interactions, using the larval zebrafish as a model host. We are currently studying how innate immune mechanisms control infections with the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus.

Anna Seekatz

Biological Sciences

My lab focuses on host-pathogen interactions in intestinal worms.

Michael Sehorn

Genetics and Biochemistry

My laboratory strives to understand the mechanism of homology-directed repair of DNA double-strand breaks mediated by RAD51 and DMC1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Entamoeba histolytica and humans.

Linkedin

Kerry Smith – EPIC Director

Genetics and Biochemistry

My group is interested in the acetate metabolism in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus.

Linkedin

Alexis Stamatikos

Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences

Exploring the role of TLR-mediated immune responses in kinetoplastid parasite infections.

Lesly Temesvari

Biological Sciences

We seek to understand the virulence functions of secretion, phagocytosis and parasite-host interactions in Entamoeba histolytica.

Linkedin

Daniel Whitehead

Chemistry

EPIC-related projects in the Whitehead lab focus on the synthesis of small molecules and conjugates for the development of therapeutic and drug delivery strategies for treating eukaryotic pathogen infections.

Linkedin