What we study

We are an infectious diseases research laboratory studying several fundamental mechanisms underlying blood borne dissemination of bacterial pathogens. The major model organism we study is Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease.

The Moriarty lab studies multiple features of dissemination, using techniques from genetics, molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics and physiology, as well as powerful live cell imaging approaches for investigating dissemination mechanisms in living animals, flow chambers and microfluidic devices. We are a multidisciplinary lab, and collaborate with researchers from the fields of infectious diseases, microbiology, immunology, cell biology, structural biology, bioengineering, biophysics and cardiovascular biology. Our lab has also recently begun investigating the effects of diabetes and obesity on host susceptibility to Lyme disease.