The primary focus of the Microbial Genomics Laboratory is to use high-throughput sequencing and other functional genomic technologies to understand the biology and genomic diversity of a few parasitic protists and bacteria with significant impact on human and animal health. Genome and transcriptome sequencing of these organisms is a critical first step towards our understanding of how these organisms grow and thrive in a susceptible host and in other environments.   A better understanding of their biology could eventually lead to the development of new intervention strategies.

Within this program, a combination of high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing-based methods, coupled with functional genomics and bioinformatics tools are being used to answer one or more of the following questions:

• What is the genetic make-up of a pathogen?
• What makes an organism pathogenic?
• How a pathogen varies in natural populations?
• How a pathogen interacts with its host?