Biomedical Graduate Studies

Description of Research Expertise

The overall goal of the Zackular laboratory is to understand how interactions between the host, gut microbiota, and pathogenic microbes impact human health and disease. At the center of our research is the important nosocomial pathogen, Clostridium difficile. Over the past decade, incidence, severity, and costs associated with C. difficile infection (CDI) have increased dramatically. The primary risk factor for CDI is antibiotic treatment, which disrupts the resident gut microbiota and leads to susceptibility to C. difficile. Interestingly, non-antibiotic associated CDI cases are on the rise, suggesting that unexplored host, environmental, and microbiota factors likely influence CDI. We are interested in identifying these environmental factors and defining underlying mechanisms of microbiota disruption and modulation of disease.

The research in our laboratory draws from numerous fields including microbiology, immunology, microbial ecology, host-pathogen interactions, and microbiota research. Our strategy is to leverage the strengths of high throughput sequencing technologies with more mechanistic strategies involving bacterial genetics, mass spectrometry, and imaging. Trainees in the laboratory gain interdisciplinary training and are involved in translational studies at the interface of basic and clinical research.


Keywords: Clostridium difficile; Enterococcus; Gut microbiome; Host-pathogen interactions; Pathogen-microbiota interactions; Inflammatory Bowel Disease; Colorectal cancer.