Luther Bartelt
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Microbiology & Immunology
Giardia lamblia, a single-celled intestinal parasite, causes more than 300 million infections a year and is strongly linked to children growing poorly and, in some studies, to delayed cognitive development. The puzzle is that most of these infections cause no diarrhea at all, and many children never clear the parasite, yet they still suffer lasting harm.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
Giardia lamblia
giardiasis
intestinal parasite
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Test whether purified recombinant Giardia proteases, protein-cutting enzymes secreted by intestinal trophozoites, damage the gut barrier using intestinal epithelial cell monolayers and primary mouse-derived intestinal cells, and whether anti-secretome antibodies block that damage.
- Determine whether immunization with Giardia secretome proteins before infection protects against growth impairment in gnotobiotic and conventional mouse models of childhood undernutrition, and whether antibody therapy alone prevents severe weight loss in immunodeficient mice.
- Expand a multi-antigen Giardia serology panel and apply it to serial banked sera from a child cohort at high risk, modeling whether the breadth, magnitude and durability of specific antibody responses track with intestinal barrier function and growth.
- Determine how resident gut bacteria protect against persistent Giardia infection by transferring microbiota between well-nourished and susceptible mice, testing whether bacterial bile acid metabolism confers protection and whether microbes are required for effective immunity.
- Dissect how Giardia infection and dietary protein deficiency together cause intestinal barrier dysfunction and growth restriction, using gnotobiotic mice with metagenomics and metabolomics to track aromatic amino acid metabolites, bile acids and shifts toward pathogenic bacterial functions.
More about the research
Work in this lab asks how a parasite that often seems silent damages the gut lining and stunts growth, approaching the question from two directions: the molecules Giardia releases into the intestine, and the diet-dependent community of resident gut bacteria that determines whether a child can resist the infection in the first place.
Why it matters
Giardia infection is near-universal among children in low- and middle-income settings and contributes to stunted growth even when it causes no symptoms. Identifying which secreted parasite proteins drive gut injury, and which antibody responses let children keep growing despite infection, could point to an anti-pathology vaccine or antibody therapy. Showing how dietary protein and gut bacteria, including bile acid metabolism, govern susceptibility could support microbial or nutritional treatments for impaired gut function in malnourished children.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Carol Gilchrist
University of Virginia, VA·Microbiology & Immunology
Optimize the systemic and mucosal immune responses raised by prototype vaccines based on the Cryptosporidium antigens Cp17, Cp23, and CpSMP delivered in liposomes with toll-like receptor agonists, immune-alarm triggers that boost antibody and cellular responses.
Carrie Cowardin
University of Virginia, VA·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether gut microbiota from stunted human infants drive dysregulated intestinal immunity, using germ-free mice colonized with stunted or healthy infant microbiota whose pups are weaned onto a nutrient-deficient diet.
Jenessa Winston
Ohio State University, OH·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Test whether daily supplementation with the secondary bile acid ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) changes susceptibility to and severity of Clostridioides difficile infection in IL10-knockout colitis mice.
The school
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: 72 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 523 research doctorates a year.
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