Research

Soil-transmitted parasitic worms infect over a billion people and cause devastating morbidity, primarily in the world’s most socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Our research focuses on the thermal physiology of Strongyloides stercoralis, a potentially fatal skin-penetrating worm that infects at least 610 million people globally, nearly three times as many people as malaria. The soil-dwelling infective larvae of S. stercoralis and other parasitic nematodes actively locate potential hosts using host body heat, then transition into parasitic adults capable of surviving within the thermal environment of the mammalian host body. A major focus of our lab is understanding the molecular and neural adaptations that shape the thermal physiology of soil-transmitted parasitic worms, with the ultimate goal of enabling new prophylactic and therapeutic approaches to treating a major threat to global health and economic stability.