Syphilis - Treponema pallidum
Syphilis has resurged into a global epidemic, with U.S. cases at their highest level in decades and congenital infections posing a growing threat. Despite this, no vaccine exists. Our lab focuses on T. pallidum’s elusive outer membrane, a major obstacle to vaccine development. We integrate structural modeling, OMPeome mapping, and human cohort genomics to identify surface-exposed regions of outer membrane proteins that are both variable and immunologically relevant. We investigate how extracellular loops of proteins such as FadL and BamA elicit opsonic or growth-inhibitory antibodies, while also defining non-protective targets that can be retired. In parallel, we are pioneering genetic manipulation of T. pallidum to probe the centuries-old mysteries of syphilis pathogenesis. Tools such as GFP-expressing strains and antibody-mediated damage assays now provide unprecedented opportunities to study host–pathogen interactions and accelerate the path toward vaccine discovery.