The Petri Lab—a part of the Division of Infectious Diseases & International Health— studies enteric infections and their consequences in children of the developing world. The scope of research includes molecular parasitology, host defense and Clostridium difficile in the lab at UVA. In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan we study infant vaccines and undernutrition.

Current work includes measuring the consequences of infection on nutrition and child development and continuing our study of host determinants of susceptibility to enteric infection. Most recently, we have identified that the parasite kills human cells via a unique cell biologic process that we have termed “amebic trogocytosis,” and discovered that potassium channels are key participants in death of the host cells.