{"id":1730709,"date":"2025-06-17T11:14:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T15:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/thh9t\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:31:25","slug":"thh9t","status":"publish","type":"faculty-listing","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/thh9t\/","title":{"rendered":"Harris, Tajie H."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Toxoplasma  gondii<\/em> is an intracellular, protozoan parasite that infects  approximately one-third of the world population. The parasite can be  acquired congenitally or in adults, through the ingestion of  contaminated food or water. Acute infection with <em>T. gondii<\/em> leads to systemic disease that is largely controlled by the cytokine,  IFN-g. Despite this, the parasite persists in several tissues,  including the brain and retina, where an ongoing T cell-mediated immune  response is necessary to limit parasite replication. The vast majority  of infections are asymptomatic, but suppression of T cell function can  lead to severe toxoplasmic encephalitis and\/or retinochoroiditis. While  the importance of T cells in controlling <em>T. gondii<\/em> in the  brain and eye has been demonstrated, research in the Harris  laboratory aims to identify factors within immune-privileged tissues  that influence local resistance to <em>T. gondii<\/em>.&#013;&#010;&#013;&#010;The Harris laboratory will use MP microscopy and other cutting-edge  techniques to provide insight into the orchestration of local immune  responses in the brain and retina. The laboratory is currently focusing on the role of microglia and macrophages in the control of infection in the brain. Several projects focus on the role of alarmins, which are molecules that are expressed by healthy cells and released into the tissue environment in response to aberrant death or damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1734619,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"otheraff":[2420,2461,2409],"phd-degree":[2570,2569,2565],"primary":[2349],"research-discipline":[2493,2504,2503,2507,2506,2501,2502],"research-opportunity":[2554,2557,2556,2562,2553],"training-grant":[2320,2316,2314,2319,2318,2317,2311],"class_list":["post-1730709","faculty-listing","type-faculty-listing","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","otheraff-beirne-carter-center-for-immunology","otheraff-brain-immunology-and-glia-center","otheraff-mstp","phd-degree-phd-microbiology","phd-degree-phd-neuroscience","phd-degree-phd-pharmacology","primary-neuroscience","research-discipline-biophysics","research-discipline-biotechnology","research-discipline-immunology","research-discipline-infectious-diseases-biodefense","research-discipline-microbiology","research-discipline-neuroimmunology","research-discipline-neuroscience","research-opportunity-ro-immunology","research-opportunity-ro-infectiousdiseases","research-opportunity-ro-microbiology","research-opportunity-ro-neuroimmunology","research-opportunity-ro-neuroscience","training-grant-basic-cardiovascular-research-training-grant","training-grant-biodefense-infectious-diseases-short-term-training-to-increase-diversity-in-biomedical-sciences","training-grant-biotechnology-training-grant","training-grant-global-biothreats-training-program","training-grant-infectious-diseases-training-program","training-grant-interdisciplinary-training-program-in-immunology","training-grant-predoctoral-training-in-neuroscience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Harris, Tajie H. - Research Faculty Directory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/thh9t\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harris, Tajie H. - Research Faculty Directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular, protozoan parasite that infects approximately one-third of the world population. 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