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Darren E. Higgins
Associate Professor of
Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Department of Microbiology and
Molecular Genetics
Harvard Medical School
200 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
617-432-4156 (tel)
617-738-7664 (fax)
darren_higgins@hms.harvard.edu
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Our laboratory primarily uses Listeria
monocytogenes as a model pathogen to understand fundamental
host-pathogen interactions that lead to virulence and the development
of protective immunity to intracellular bacterial pathogens.
L. monocytogenes is a
facultative, intracellular bacterial pathogen of humans and a variety
of animal species. In humans, L. monocytogenes infections are
typically food-borne and cause an invasive and often fatal disease in
pregnant women, newborns, infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised
individuals. Following entry into host cells, bacteria initially reside
within a membrane-bound vacuole, yet rapidly escape into the host cell
cytosol.
Bacteria subsequently replicate within the cytosol and exploit a host
mechanism of actin-based motility to move and spread from cell-to-cell
during the course of infection.
We are using a combination of
molecular genetics, in vitro
tissue culture systems, high-resolution microscopy and in vivo mouse infection models to
elucidate the molecular mechanisms of intracellular pathogenesis and
the host
immune response.
Visit the People
page to learn about individual lab members' projects.
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