Erol Fikrig, MD
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Biography
My laboratory investigates vector-borne diseases. Studies are directed toward understanding Lyme disease, Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and West Nile virus. Efforts on Lyme disease include exploring immunity to Borrelia burgdorferi, selective B. burgdorferi gene expression in vivo, and the immunobiology of Lyme arthritis. Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis is caused by a newly described pathogen, transmitted by Ixodes scapularis ticks, that persists within neutrophils. We are investigating the molecular strategies that this pathogen uses to survive in polymorphonuclear leukocytes. West Nile virus can cause fatal encephalitis, and we seek to understand the pathogenesis of this emerging disease. Finally, we are also developing molecular approaches to prevent ticks from feeding on a mammalian host, thereby interfering with pathogen transmission.
Education & Training
- Board CertificationAB of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine (1988)
- MDCornell University (1985)
- BACornell University (1981)
- ResidentVanderbilt University Hospital
- FellowYale University School of Medicine
Activities
- Pathogenesis of Lyme DiseaseNetherlands 2007The goal of this project is to determine how specific components of the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, and its arthropod vector, Ixodes ticks, contribute to the pathogenesis of Lyme disease in Europe.
Departments & Organizations
- Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
- Fikrig Lab
- Global Health Studies
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
- Internal Medicine
- Microbial Pathogenesis
- Microbiology
- Molecular Virology
- Office of Cooperative Research
- Rheumatic Diseases Research Core
- Virology Laboratories
- Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)
- Yale Medicine
- Yale School of Public Health
- Yale University
- Yale-UPR Integrated HIV Basic and Clinical Sciences Initiative