Discovering the essential mechanisms behind Cryptosporidium invasion of epithelial cells

Cryptosporidium is an intestinal pathogen that has a substantial disease burden throughout the world. As an intracellular parasite, Cryptosporidium must invade intestinal epithelial cells to survive and replicate. Understanding this process of invasion is crucial to developing new interventions, both for treatment and protection. Here, we will leverage the combined expertise of three laboratories to investigate the molecular mechanisms that Cryptosporidium employs during the invasion process: how the parasite recognises and engages intestinal epithelial cells, how these epithelial cells are manipulated by injected parasite virulence factors, and how these host-parasite interactions influence the host range of Cryptosporidium. This work will address large gaps in our understanding of Cryptosporidium pathogenesis with broad implications for the development of new interventions across the one-health spectrum.