{"id":14,"date":"2017-05-16T11:38:36","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T15:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2025-09-02T17:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T21:52:17","slug":"syphilis-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/syphilis-research\/syphilis-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Syphilis Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"in-page-tabs\"><ul id=\"menu-syphilis-research\" class=\"menu nav nav-tabs\"><li id=\"menu-item-126\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/syphilis-research\/syphilis-research\/\">Syphilis Research<\/a><\/li><li id=\"menu-item-123\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/syphilis-research\/syphilis-team\/\">Syphilis Research Team<\/a><\/li><li id=\"menu-item-124\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/syphilis-research\/syphilis-collaborations\/\">Syphilis Collaborations<\/a><\/li><li id=\"menu-item-125\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/syphilis-research\/publications\/\">Syphilis Publications<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div id=\"pl-14\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-14-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-14-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-14-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><h5>Syphilis Research<\/h5>\n<h1>Research<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pg-14-1\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-14-1-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-14-1-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"1\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><h2>Syphilis - <em>Treponema pallidum<\/em><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-105\" src=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2017\/05\/photo-10_507x338.jpg\" alt=\"Carson Karanian doing research\" width=\"450\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2017\/05\/photo-10_507x338.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2017\/05\/photo-10_507x338-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2017\/05\/photo-10_507x338-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2017\/05\/photo-10_507x338-272x182.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>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 <\/span><em data-start=\"1682\" data-end=\"1695\">T. pallidum<\/em><span>\u2019s 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 <\/span><em data-start=\"2196\" data-end=\"2209\">T. pallidum<\/em><span> 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\u2013pathogen interactions and accelerate the path toward vaccine discovery.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syphilis Research Research Syphilis &#8211; 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\u2019s elusive outer membrane, a major obstacle to vaccine development. We integrate structural modeling, OMPeome [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"parent":25,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-blank.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-12 19:13:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/498"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}