My laboratory is interested in understanding how
obligate intracellular pathogens co-opt the intracellular
architecture of eukaryotic cells. Our main interest
is in the formation and maintenance of endosomes and
how the transport of proteins and lipids through the
endomembrane system is affected in infected cells.
In this manner, we seek to understand at the molecular
level both the mechanisms of bacterial virulence and
new aspects of the basic cell biology of eukaryotic
cells. Our studies are focused in the sexually transmitted
pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis. We have developed
functional genomic methods to identify putative bacterial
virulence factors and their corresponding targets
in eukaryotic cells.
