mechanisms of HOst-Pathogen Interactions
In the Lamason lab, we investigate how intracellular bacterial pathogens such as Rickettsia parkeri and Listeria monocytogenes hijack host cell processes to promote infection. We use cellular, molecular, genetic, biochemical, and biophysical approaches to elucidate the mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions in order to reveal key insights into pathogenesis and host cell biology.
Interested in working in the lab? SEE what openings are AVAILABLE
RECENT Lab News
September 5, 2025: Congrats to Jane Lodwick for being named a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow!!
August 22, 2025: We said goodbye today to Allen Sanderlin, who will be joining the Evavold lab at the Ragon Institute as a postdoc. Good luck and have fun, Allen!
August 10, 2025: Congrats to Clara Zhu for being selected as a HEALS SuperUROP!
July 22, 2025: Farewell to Cassandra Vondrak, who will be moving on to an exciting postdoctoral position with John Connor’s lab at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at BU!
July 14, 2025: The lab had a great time at the annual ASR conference, with a fantastic talk from Brandon Sit and a wonderful poster by Hannah Margolis (also a travel awardee!).
July 11, 2025: Welcome to our newest postdoc, Lauren Bird! Lauren hails from Australia where she did her PhD training in Hayley Newton’s lab studying Coxiella pathogenesis. Now she joins our team to investigate Rickettsia parkeri-host interactions.
June 24, 2025: Congrats to postdoc Elayne Fivenson for being named a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow!!
June 17, 2025: Funding alert - Our NIAID R01 was just renewed for 5 more years!!! Thanks to everyone’s hard work and creative approaches, which were essential to this success.
June 9, 2025: Congrats to Brandon for being selected to give a talk at this year’s Boston Bacterial Meeting, and to poster presenters Hannah Margolis and Clara Zhu on sharing their work with the community.
June 2, 2025: Congrats to Hannah Margolis for being selected to give a talk today at the NENE (Northeast Nuclear Envelope) regional meeting about her exciting work on rickettsia-mediated nuclear invasion.
May 30, 2025: Today, we said farewell to our technician, Maisie Smith, who is off to start her Ph.D. training at Yale this fall. Good luck, Maisie!
May 21, 2025: We were just awarded a grant from the J.D. and E.V. Wade fund to study rickettsial-mediated nuclear invasion!
April 21, 2025: New review is out, with first author Patrick Woida highlighting the fascinating ways pathogenic bacteria reroute membrane trafficking. Check it out!
LATEST PAPERS
Pathogen-induced rerouting of host membrane trafficking
A conserved interaction between the effector Sca4 and host clathrin suggests additional contributions for Sca4 during rickettsial infection
An expanded genetic toolkit for inducible expression and targeted gene silencing in Rickettsia parkeri
Cell-selective proteomics reveal novel effectors secreted by an obligate intracellular bacterial pathogen
Rickettsia parkeri forms extensive, stable contacts with the rough endoplasmic reticulum (paper)
Pathogenic Rickettsia spp. as emerging models for bacterial biology
