Gaddy Laboratory

The Gaddy Laboratory is a biomedical research team whose work focuses on how the host responds to infection of the reproductive tract, specifically in the context of pregnancy.   

The current research program seeks to understand the host and environmental factors that contribute to susceptibility to perinatal infections and to elucidate the antimicrobial molecules produced in human breast milk. 

This translational research encompasses bacterial pathogenesis, innate immunity, and reproductive immunology and utilizes cutting-edge techniques such as high-resolution imaging modalities (including electron microscopy), primary cell and tissue models, preclinical animal models of disease, and multi-omics techniques.

The Gaddy lab’s latest work demonstrates that the bacterial pathogen Group B Streptococcus can highjack placental macrophage cells as a Trojan horse to ascend the gravid reproductive tract and cross the placenta to infect the developing fetus.