Scrub typhus is a neglected but life-threatening vector-borne human disease that is endemic in many parts of Asia and that is estimated to affect at least 1 million people per year. Diagnostic challenges mean that whilst it is now known to be a leading cause of severe febile illness in many places, it has been overlooked for many years. Scrub typhus is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, an obligate intracellular bacterium of the order Rickettsiales. As an obligate intracellular bacterium O. tsutsugamushi is strictly dependent on eukaryotic host cells to provide nutrients and protection for its growth and replication, and the molecular basis of this intimate relationship between bacterium and host cell is the focus of the Salje lab. We are particularly focused on the structure of the cell wall in O. tsutsugamushi, on the intracellular replicative cycle, and on the molecular basis of pathogenesis.
Dr. Salje is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow. The Salje lab is based in two locations: the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand (www.ndm.ox.ac.uk & www.tropmedres.ac) and the Public Health Research Institute (PHRI) in Newark, USA.