The Huntley Laboratory at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences studies:

• Host-pathogen interactions, to develop new strategies to prevent bacterial infections, modulate host immune responses, and understand bacterial pathogenesis. The Huntley lab uses Francisella tularensis (tularemia) as a model intracellular pathogen;
• Vaccine development and testing, including live attenuated and recombinant protein vaccines;
• Bacterial surface protein function, focusing on molecules involved in host cell invasion, intracellular survival, and immune evasion;
• Tick-borne diseases, including understanding how bacterial pathogens infect, persist, and are transmitted by ticks to humans.
• Harmful algal bloom (HAB) mitigation strategies, including using beneficial bacterial to degrade HAB toxins (bioremediation).
• Mentoring and education of learners in microbiology and infectious disease research and clinical approaches.

Specialties: bacterial pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, microbiology, infectious disease, tick-borne disease, genetics, immunology, vaccine development, molecular biology, biochemistry, outer membrane protein, bacterial envelope