Grant: Project Grant

Infectious disease from pathogenic microbes causes millions of deaths every year. Although individuals display vast variability in their susceptibility to infectious disease, a complete understanding of the genetic basis for these differences is lacking. We will tackle this problem by using the roundworm, which is a very convent and powerful model animal. Using a collection of genetically diverse worms collected from around the world, we will identify isolates that differ in their susceptibility to bacterial and fungal pathogens. We will then apply genetic approaches to identify and characterize genes that cause animals to be sensitive or resistant to infection. Our study will result in a better understanding of how pathogens are able to infect humans and will lead to methods to be able to treat infectious disease.