Leptospirosis Research - Leptospira 
spp.
Our Leptospira program investigates how pathogenic leptospires adapt to and persist in mammalian hosts and how we can exploit those mechanisms for vaccines. We use complementary animal models—the acute hamster challenge model, mouse models for renal colonization, and the rat dialysis membrane chamber (DMC) system to generate in vivo host-adapted organisms—to probe pathogenesis. We pair these with transcriptomics and proteomics (e.g., RNA-seq and PTM profiling) to map host-driven regulatory circuits. A central focus is outer membrane proteins (OMPs)—including β-barrel OMPs, TonB-dependent receptors, and Omp85/BamA family members—as drivers of virulence and as vaccine targets. Using reverse/structural vaccinology and epitope prediction, we identify conserved, surface-exposed regions, engineer multivalent constructs, and test them across models to evaluate protection and sterilizing immunity.