I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology. Our lab studies malaria, an ancient illness that continues to impact millions of people every year. The most lethal form of this disease is caused by a unicellular parasite called Plasmodium falciparum that spreads from one human to another through a mosquito vector. Infected individuals begin to display malaria symptoms after the parasites invade and multiply within their red blood cells (RBCs). We are interested in determining how P. falciparum sustains itself during this clinically relevant phase of disease – does the parasite largely acquire essential metabolites from the host RBC, or does it rely heavily on its own biosynthetic pathways? Using a combination of genetic, biochemical and metabolomic techniques, we hope to pinpoint metabolic vulnerabilities in P. falciparum that could serve as targets for therapeutic intervention.