Bacterial Infections

Research Activities

NIAID researchers are involved in all aspects of investigation to help solve the difficult challenges of bacterial diseases. Research in basic bacteriology includes investigating molecular structure and function, genomics, biochemical composition, and physiological and biochemical processes. Studies on these bacterial pathogens extend basic insights to identify vaccine candidate antigens and drug targets and to examine mechanisms of infection, pathogenicity, and virulence.

Areas of particular interest include streptococci, pneumonia, nosocomial (hospital-associated) infections, antibiotic resistance, bacterial sexually transmitted diseases, and bacterial diarrhea.

NIAID's program for antibacterial research is facilitated through its intramural labs, technology and research resources, and extramural research support, including support for many bacterial genome sequencing projects.

Labs at NIAID

• Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis—Studies the molecular basis of human bacterial pathogenesis in its broadest sense.

• Laboratory of Host Defenses, Tuberculosis Research Section—Puts special emphasis on understanding and interpreting the genomic information encoded within Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

• Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases—Conducts clinical and basic studies of important human infectious and immunologic diseases.

• Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens—Studies several bacteria that cause diseases in humans, including Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhea), Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Borrelia hermsii (relapsing fever), and Yersinia pestis (plague)

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