We develop new technologies for fungal diagnostics and pathogenic mechanisms of Cryptococcus gattii and Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the etiologic agents of human cryptococcal meningitis and bat white nose syndrome, respectively.

Newborn Screening Program: We develop data visualizations and reports for public health surveillance. We provide education and work collaboratively with external stakeholders to improve the overall quality of the newborn screening system in NYS.

We study arbovirus adaptation and vector-virus interactions, focusing on West Nile virus and Culex mosquitoes. Areas of interest include mutant swarm dynamics, mechanisms of adaptation, microbial interactions and vectorial capacity.

We focus on developing and improving diagnostic tools for rabies. Additional research programs focus on studying rabies in bats within the laboratory and in field environments.

We focus on the targeted, ultra-trace measurement of emerging organic contaminants in New York State’s drinking water supplies through both regulated and research-based mass spectrometry methods.

We focus on the development and validation of assays to detect pathogens and toxins associated with bioterrorism or food-borne disease. We utilize methods such as real-time PCR, whole genome sequencing, and mass spectrometry for rapid detection of agents.

We are interested in the mechanisms underlying resistance of M. tuberculosis to major TB drugs and in the development and validation of molecular assays involving whole genome sequencing for rapid detection of drug resistant tuberculosis.

We focus on method development of radiochemical analyses for use in routine and emergency response scenarios.

We screen infants born in New York State for more than 50 conditions at birth and study the genetics of diseases affecting infants and children. 

We study the immunological aspect of the system biology effects from genetic susceptibilities and environmental stress defined as the exposome on autoimmune diseases, immune deficiencies, and neurodegenerative and neurobehavioral illnesses.

Our work strives to further the knowledge of the mechanisms behind mucosal immune alterations that can lead to food allergies and malnutrition.

We develop molecular diagnostic assays and reference testing for the detection and characterization of pathogenic bacteria and mycobacteria and to predict antibiotic resistance using real-time PCR and whole genome sequencing.

We focus on simplifying and automating published low-volume newborn screening tests in order to transform them into high-volume assays.

We study human exposure to toxic metals/metalloids (biomonitoring) and long-lived nuclides (radiobioassay); and develop novel speciation methods by coupling LC and GC to ICP-MS, while using portable XRF for field-based studies.