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Le Roch Lab
Late-stage Plasmodium schizont among red blood cells

Research

Host-Pathogen Interactions

The question

A parasite that edits its host's instructions.

Combining large genomic data sets to investigate how intracellular parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii manipulate host chromatin to evade immune responses and promote parasite persistence in humans.

An intracellular parasite does not simply hide inside a host cell — it changes how that cell behaves. Persistence depends on reshaping host gene expression enough to blunt the immune response without killing the cell the parasite lives in.

We approach this from the chromatin side, on both genomes at once: which host genes are marked, which are made accessible, and how the parasite's own three-dimensional genome organisation supports the switch to a persistent state. Comparing that architecture across apicomplexan species separates what belongs to one parasite from what is shared strategy.

Viruses, bacteria and parasites outside a host cell whose nucleus shows acetylation and methylation marks on chromatin
Pathogens outside a host cell whose nucleus carries acetylation and methylation marks: the chromatin interface where persistence is negotiated.

How we look

Techniques used in this area

Host & parasite chromatin

  • ChIP-seq
  • CUT&Tag
  • Hi-C
  • MeDIP-seq

Cell biology & readout

  • High-content confocal
  • RNA-seq
  • Proteomics

Platforms

  • Illumina
  • PacBio
All 4 papers on host-pathogen interactions
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