Patrik Bavoil Laboratory
Dr. Bavoil's research includes the pathogenesis of multiple species of the obligate intracellular pathogen, Chlamydia. Research areas include comparative genomics within the Chlamydiaceae, the role of the chlamydial type III secretion system in pathogenesis and development, the impact of Chlamydia phage infection on disease, the role of the polymorphic membrane protein family of C. trachomatisin infection and disease, and studies of the triangular relationship between vaginal ecology, pathogenomic properties of the infecting chlamydiae and disease outcome in the infected host.
EcoPathogenomics of Chlamydial Reproductive Tract Infection (EPCRTI)
This NIH-NIAID funded STD-Cooperative Research Center (CRC) is directed by Drs. Patrik Bavoil and Jacques Ravel from the University Institute for Genome Science. The CRC includes projects and cores at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, IGS and Adolescent and Young Adults Clinics in Baltimore, The Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, the Arkansas Children Hospital Research Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas, the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Type III Secretion a la Chlamydia
This project investigates the role of type III secretion in chlamydial development and pathogenesis (funded by Project 2 of EPCRTI)
A Well-Kept Secretome: the Chlamydial Polymorphic Membrane Protein Family
This project investigates the structure-function properties, the variable expression and the role of the "Pmps" in chlamydial pathogenesis (funded by NIH-NIAID).
[Obligate Intracellular Parasitism]2: The Biology of Chlamydiaphages
This project investigates the biological properties of Chlamydiaphages, their impact on chlamydial pathogenesis and their potential in the development of genetics in Chlamydia (funded by NIH-NIAID).
Chlamydiomics
This project investigates the genomic diversity of the Chlamydiaceae in relationship to chlamydial development and pathogenesis, chlamydial disease, host specificity and the composition and dynamics of the host microbiota (funded by NIH-NIAID).
Structure, Immunity, Microbiome: 3D Biomimetic Cervicovaginal Models of Sexually Transmitted Infections (SIM-STI)
The overarching objective of SIM-STI is to bridge the gap currently existing between our understanding of chlamydial and gonococcal infections derived from animal and cellular models, and from ex vivo data, and that generated from observing the actual infection and disease occurring in humans.
Laboratory Personnel
Patrik Bavoil, PhD
Professor, Principal Investigator
Drs. Patrik Bavoil is a co-Director of the NIH-NIAID-funded STI Cooperative Research Center "Ecopathogenomics of Chlamydial Reproductive Tract Infection" (EPCRTI). EPCRTI includes the recruitment and documentation of the CHARM cohort of Chlamydia trachomatis-infected patients, led by Dr. Mishka Terplan (
Professor, Principal Investigator
Drs. Patrik Bavoil is a co-Director of the NIH-NIAID-funded STI Cooperative Research Center "Ecopathogenomics of Chlamydial Reproductive Tract Infection" (EPCRTI). EPCRTI includes the recruitment and documentation of the CHARM cohort of Chlamydia trachomatis-infected patients, led by Dr. Mishka Terplan (University of Maryland, Baltimore - School of Medicine, studies in animal models of human genital disease led by Dr. Roger Rank (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences), biological informatics and biostatistics resources directed by Dr. Owen White (University of Maryland, Baltimore -Institute for Genome Sciences), omic characterizations of the cervico-vaginal microbiota and of chlamydiae led by Drs. Jacques Ravel and Garry Myers (University of Maryland, Baltimore -Institute for Genome Sciences) and Dr. Larry Forney (University of Idaho), studies of the physiology of infecting chlamydiae led by Dr. Anthony Maurelli (The Henry M. Jackson Foundation), and studies of the host-pathogen interaction led by Dr. Bavoil and biomathematician Dr. David Wilson (University of New South Wales, Australia).Dr. Bavoil is Chief-Editor of the journal Pathogens and Disease of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS) President of the Chlamydia Basic Research Society (CBRS).
Publications
"Call for consensus in Chlamydia trachomatis...genovariants and genotypes."
de Vries HJC, Pannekoek Y, Dean D, Bavoil PM, Borel N, Greub G, Morré SA; ICSP Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Chlamydiae. 2022. Call for consensus in Chlamydia trachomatis nomenclature: moving from biovars, serovars and serotypes to genovariants and genotypes. Clin Microbiol Infect S1198-743X(22)00087-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2022.02.013.
“The association of Chlamydia trachomatis...infection with the vaginal metabolome.”
Borgogna J-L C, MD Shardell, CJ Yeoman, KG Ghanem, H Kadriu, AV Ulanov, CA Gaydos, J Hardick, CK Robinson, PM Bavoil, J Ravel, RM Brotman, and S Tuddenham. 2020. The association of Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium infection with the vaginal metabolome. Sci Rep 10(1):3420. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-60179-z. PMID:32098988
“Insertional mutagenesis in the zoonotic pathogen Chlamydia caviae."
Filcek K, K Vielfort, S Muraleedharan, J Henriksson, RH Valdivia, PM Bavoil*, Barbara S. Sixt*. 2019. Insertional mutagenesis in the zoonotic pathogen Chlamydia caviae. PLoS One. PONE-D-19-14997R1. 14(11):e0224324. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224324. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31697687 (*co-corresponding authors)
“The Cervicovaginal Microbiota-Host Interaction Modulates Chlamydia trachomatis Infection.”
Edwards VL, Smith SB, McComb EJ, Tamarelle J, Ma B, Humphrys MS, Gajer P, Gwilliam K, Schaefer AM, Lai SK, Terplan M, Mark KS, Brotman RM, Forney LJ, Bavoil PM, Ravel J. 2019. The Cervicovaginal Microbiota-Host Interaction Modulates Chlamydia trachomatis Infection. mBio, Aug 13;10(4). pii: e01548-19. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01548-19.