Research Area: Veterinary/Clinical Research

The Hay lab uses methods from microbial ecology, physiology, genomics, and genetics to understand how human activities affect microbes in diverse environmental settings. For instance, we study how handling of milk collection kits affects the microbiome of pumped human milk. Students will use genomics to[...]

The Flyak lab studies human antibody response to viral pathogens. We try to answer questions like, how do human antibodies neutralize rapidly mutating viruses? And, how can we design vaccines that mimic effective antibody responses seen in some individuals? In our lab, we isolate antibodies[...]

We study positive and negative interactions between viruses and antibodies. We are particularly interested in maternal antibodies, which are transferred from mother to infant to protect against neonatal infections. However, these antibodies can also block the infant response to vaccines. Despite this phenomenon being identified[...]

We study the transmission and impacts of infectious disease in a changing ocean and mechanisms of immune function in marine invertebrates. We work to identify the value of intact ocean biodiversity and develop strategies towards a healthier ocean.

We are actively engaged in defining the signals that enable effector T cells to ‘find’ areas of infection and damage within inflamed tissues. We utilize intravital multiphoton microscopy and optogenetic tools to visualize and manipulate effector CD4+ T cells in situ. These approaches have revealed extrinsic[...]

Macrophages are susceptible to HIV-1 infection and are resistant to virally-induced cell death. Alveolar macrophages (AM) in particular are known to be extremely long-lived and self-renewing, and have been shown to be both permissive to HIV-1 infection and persist in the face of Anti-Retroviral Therapy[...]

Iris explores the ways that vertebrate hosts cope with infections from the diverse community of parasites they encounter throughout their lives. Specifically, she looks at signatures of selection on the immune genes of lizards, and correlate those signatures with the lizard’s parasite community. Iris is[...]

Dr. Schang uses small molecules with drug-like properties to probe the ways viruses cause infections. He is most interested in finding common features among the many viruses that cause disease in animals or humans, including how they enter cells and how they replicate and cause[...]

My program is focused on drug discovery and the pathogenesis of infectious human disease. We work closely with the Gates Foundation and the California Institute for Biomedical Research to run high-throughput drug screening on Mycobacterium tuberculosis within the context of the host. We also have human subjects[...]

We study how pathogens influence pollinator health. Students collect data on plant-pollinator visitation networks, pathogen prevalence in bees and at flowers, pathogen replication and impacts on host survival, or conduct manipulative experiments to understand transmission parameters. The overall goal of our work is to improve[...]