Dr. Vladimir Lazetic

The Lažetić lab focuses on elucidating molecular mechanisms that control intestinal innate immunity against intracellular pathogens, investigating both intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that regulate host defense in intestinal epithelial cells. Specifically, we use infection of the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine by two different natural intracellular pathogens, the Orsay virus and microsporidia. C. elegans is a genetically tractable, transparent host that relies on epithelial defense, making it a powerful model for understanding defense by non-professional immune cells, which is an understudied area of immunity. In the Lažetić lab, we investigate how the innate immune response in epithelial cells is regulated transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally, as well as how changes in nutrition and the microbiome affect defense mechanisms.