Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite that can infect most warm blooded animals. In humans and rodents, Toxoplasma establishes a life-long, asymptomatic infection of the brain. However, this tropism can cause devastating effects including seizures, blindness, and death in immune-compromised hosts such as fetuses and transplant patients. Our goal is to understand the brain-Toxoplasma interaction at the cellular and molecular level in order to develop a curative treatment for symptomatic toxoplasmosis. In this process, we also aim to identify new ways to modulate brain-specific immune responses, which play an important role in many neurologic diseases that range from Multiple Sclerosis to Alzheimer’s disease.
