Innate immune system recognition of microbial pathogens.

The long-term goal of our laboratory is to understand vertebrate host recognition of microbial pathogens. Although our work is primarily curiosity driven, it is certainly true that understanding how a host recognizes microbial pathogens should have some medical application. Probably more than 50,000 people die each year in the United States of septic shock or the systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and there is no good therapy for this problem. Understanding the molecular basis of its origin should suggest novel therapeutic approaches.