oseph P. Zackular, Ph.D.

Joseph P. Zackular, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pathology & Lab Medicine
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

The overarching goal of the Zackular lab is to understand how the triad that is the host, gut microbiota, and invading pathogens, influence the outcome of diseases. Dr. Zackular’s lab uses Clostridium difficile as the model pathogen to address these questions.

The major risk factor associated with infection by C. difficile is antibiotic treatment, which eliminates a significant proportion of the resident microbiota, that otherwise play important roles in innate immunity, and enables C. difficile to proliferate and cause disease. Interestingly, in the past few years, the prevalence of non-antibiotic associated C. difficile infections has also been on the rise, suggesting that other unexplored environmental factors, as well as the altered physiology of the host and commensals, may further influence disease outcome.

Dr. Zackular takes a highly transdisciplinary approach to interrogate these questions, with his research drawing from the fields of genetics, microbiology, immunology, bioinformatics, microbial ecology & evolution, amongst others. Trainees in the lab are engaged in translational studies on host-pathogen model systems to conduct cutting-edge research, by utilizing some of the most revolutionary techniques, such as mass-spectrometry, cell/tissue imaging, and high-throughput sequencing, in the field of molecular microbiology.

The keynote address is free and open to the public.