Vibrio cholerae causes an estimated 5 million cases of diarrhea and over 100,000 deaths annually, predominantly in children. Although natural infection with cholera results in long-term protection against subsequent infection, the mechanisms by which this immunity is generated remain poorly understood.

Our research is focused on characterizing the human immune response in to V. cholerae, and cholera vaccines.  This effort involves extensive collaboration with other investigators at MGH and with the International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.

Current work in this area is focused on several facets of the immune response to natural cholera and vaccination, including: 1. identifying key features of the innate immune response to V. cholerae, 2. characterizing the CD4+ T-cell response to selected V. cholerae antigens, 3. defining the characteristics of memory B cell responses to V. cholerae antigens and assessing their role in protective immunity against cholera, and 4. identifying host and environmental immunomodulatory factors that influence the subsequent development of adaptive immune responses to cholera. Through these studies, we hope to better understand the mechanisms of long term immunity to cholera, with the goal of laying a foundation for the design of improved cholera vaccines