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People & Location
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The Lesser Lab is interested in understanding how bacterial pathogens manipulate eukaryotic host cell processes to ultimately cause disease. In particular our work focuses on the identification and characterization of proteins that pathogens directly deliver into host cells via specialized secretion systems. Our research is divided in several general areas: (1) We are interested in determining the molecular mechanisms used by bacterial pathogens to identify and secrete virulence proteins directly into host cells by specialized type III secretion system. (2) We are in the midst of developing functional genomic approaches, cell biological and biochemical approaches using both yeast and mammalian cells to identify eukarayotic host cell processes targeted by the pathogens. And (3) we are particularly interested in determining how pathogens act to modulate the host innate immune response. The majority of our work focuses on the pathogenesis of Shigella flexneri. However we also dabble in other organisms that encode known or putative secretion systems including Salmonella typhimurium, Francisella tularensis, Chlamydia pneumoniae and enteropathogenic E. coli.
We are currently interested in recruiting postdoctoral fellows interested in taking multi-pronged approaches to understanding mechanisms of pathogenesis. If interested, please send cover letter, CV and 3 references to clesser@partners.org.
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