My research interest has always been focused on the interactions between microbial pathogens and their hosts. Initially our efforts were directed at identifying the host cell processes that were ‘targeted’ by microbial virulence factors. This line of investigation resulted in the discovery that eIF2a-mediated regulation of translation, a central stress response in eukaryotic cells, was activated, and at times manipulated, by virulence factors expressed by bacterial pathogens (PMIDs: 19553678; 22761422; 23874749; 24478090; 29311243). More recently our interests is on infections during pregnancy and the highly complex relationships between the mother, fetus, and pathogen. Specifically our efforts are directed at distinguishing between maternal- and fetal-directed responses in the mammalian placenta during infection (PMID: 32839236).
