{"id":511,"date":"2017-05-16T11:36:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T15:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/lyme-disease-research\/research-2\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T18:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T22:05:14","slug":"leptospirosis-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/leptospirosis-research\/leptospirosis-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Leptospirosis Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"in-page-tabs\"><ul id=\"menu-leptospirosis-subnav\" class=\"menu nav nav-tabs\"><li id=\"menu-item-550\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/leptospirosis-research\/leptospirosis-research\/\">Leptospirosis Research<\/a><\/li><li id=\"menu-item-545\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/leptospirosis-research\/leptospirosis-team\/\">Leptospirosis Research Team<\/a><\/li><li id=\"menu-item-546\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/leptospirosis-research\/leptospirosis-collaborations\/\">Leptospirosis Collaborations<\/a><\/li><li id=\"menu-item-547\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page\"><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/leptospirosis-research\/leptospirosis-publications\/\">Leptospirosis Publications<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div id=\"pl-511\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-511-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-511-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-511-0-0-0\" 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>Leptospirosis Research<\/h5>\n<h1>Research<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pg-511-1\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-511-1-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-511-1-0-0\" 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>Leptospirosis Research - <em>Leptospira <a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2021\/09\/mel-mouse.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-428 size-full alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2021\/09\/mel-mouse.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2021\/09\/mel-mouse.jpg 225w, https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/133\/2021\/09\/mel-mouse-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/em>spp.<\/h2>\n<p><span>Our <em>Leptospira<\/em> program investigates how pathogenic leptospires adapt to and persist in mammalian hosts and how we can exploit those mechanisms for vaccines. We use complementary <\/span><strong data-start=\"251\" data-end=\"268\">animal models<\/strong><span>\u2014the acute <\/span><strong data-start=\"279\" data-end=\"290\">hamster<\/strong><span> challenge model, <\/span><strong data-start=\"308\" data-end=\"317\">mouse<\/strong><span> models for renal colonization, and the <\/span><strong data-start=\"357\" data-end=\"396\">rat dialysis membrane chamber (DMC)<\/strong><span> system to generate <\/span><em data-start=\"416\" data-end=\"425\">in vivo<\/em><span> host-adapted organisms\u2014to probe <\/span><strong data-start=\"458\" data-end=\"474\">pathogenesis<\/strong><span>. We pair these with <\/span><strong data-start=\"495\" data-end=\"529\">transcriptomics and proteomics<\/strong><span> (e.g., RNA-seq and PTM profiling) to map host-driven regulatory circuits. A central focus is <\/span><strong data-start=\"623\" data-end=\"657\">outer membrane proteins (OMPs)<\/strong><span>\u2014including <\/span><strong data-start=\"668\" data-end=\"742\">\u03b2-barrel OMPs, TonB-dependent receptors, and Omp85\/BamA family members<\/strong><span>\u2014as drivers of virulence and as <\/span><strong data-start=\"774\" data-end=\"793\">vaccine targets<\/strong><span>. Using <\/span><strong data-start=\"801\" data-end=\"835\">reverse\/structural vaccinology<\/strong><span> and epitope prediction, we identify conserved, surface-exposed regions, engineer multivalent constructs, and test them across models to evaluate protection and sterilizing immunity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leptospirosis Research Research Leptospirosis Research &#8211; 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\u2014the acute hamster challenge model, mouse models for renal colonization, and the rat dialysis membrane chamber (DMC) system to generate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"parent":505,"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":"2026-05-08 07:45:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511"}],"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=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":556,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/511\/revisions\/556"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/spirochete-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}