Understanding the Pathogenesis of Infections
The major focus of Dr. Jain’s laboratory is to understand the pathogenesis of infections with special emphasis on bacterial, fungal and high-containment pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (causative agent of tuberculosis) to develop and utilize diagnostic tools and therapeutics grounded in a deep understanding of the mechanistic basis of infections. They employ multiplatform approaches, including in vitro systems, animal and human organoids, small animal models and human studies, combined with cutting-edge molecular imaging technologies (CT, PET, SPECT and MRI). Dr. Jain’s laboratory has the unique expertise to image animals infected with high-containment pathogens (up to biosafety level 3). Several novel imaging approaches developed in their laboratory are now being tested in first-in-human studies, including PET tracers for fungal (Image 1) and bacterial infection (Image 2).
Dr. Jain and his team were the first to demonstrate the use of dynamic PET imaging to perform multi-tissue pharmacokinetic assessments of antibiotics directly within infected target tissues (Image 3). Building on fundamental insights into disease pathogenesis and drug pharmacokinetics, their laboratory also focuses on optimizing antimicrobial treatment regimens and the development of host-directed treatments that modulate the immune response rather than directly targeting pathogens. Through this integrated and translational approach, the team aims to transform scientific discoveries into improvements in clinical outcomes for patients with infectious diseases.
