Pathogenesis of mycobacterial organisms and enteric pathogens and leptospira; Molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis and enteric diseases; Epidemiology and molecular mechanisms of bacterial drug resistance; Field epidemiology and international health
Riley’s research activities are divided into two major areas: (1) bacterial pathogenesis and (2) molecular epidemiology. The basic pathogenesis research focuses on examining the mechanism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterial latency. This project has translational components, in which new reagents and technology generated from this work are used to develop a) prognostic tests to identify latently-infected persons who may progress to active TB, and b) therapeutic vaccines to prevent TB in those who are latently infected. Field projects in TB-endemic communities in Brazil and India are being conducted to address these questions.
The molecular epidemiology research includes projects designed to develop new strain typing methods, and application of already-developed strain-typing methods to conduct field studies domestically and abroad. A variety of infectious agents are targeted for these projects. In addition, field epidemiologic research is conducted domestically and abroad to identify new genes of pathogens that may be associated with pathogenesis. Again, these new tools are applied in disease-endemic settings in developing countries. Currently, these projects include leptospirosis in Salvador, Brazil, drug-resistant bacterial infections in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hepatitis C in Prague, Czech Republic, and TB in Sevagram, India. BCSDP trainees would employ these cutting-edges methodologies in their epidemiologic studies.
