Leal Lab
The Leal laboratory’s goal is to:
1. Provide expert laboratory support for various Infectious Disease (ID) clinical trials
2. Evaluate new commercial diagnostic tests seeking FDA approval
3. Develop novel ID diagnostics
4. Understand host and microbial factors mediating the outcome of invasive mold infections in otherwise healthy hosts including: COVID-Associated 2° mold infections (CAPA/CAM), fungal keratitis, phaeohyphomycosis, and dimorphic fungal infections.
Mission
- To advance our understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases with a major emphasis on invasive mold infections and emerging pathogens.
- To develop a welcoming environment that enables cutting-edge collaborative research, training and professional/personal development.
Research Overview
The Leal lab translational research program serves as a microbiology expertise hub for many infectious disease clinical trials, evaluation of new commercial diagnostic tests seeking FDA approval, and a nidus for the development of innovative diagnostics for various pathogens. This diverse portfolio and study pipeline provides a large collaborative networking infrastructure, access to clinical isolates and patient samples for research, as well as a clear path from bench to bedside with immediate or near-immediate impacts on patient care. Although heavily influenced by Dr. Leal’s unique perspective as a research-oriented physician scientist, immunologist, clinical microbiologist, and ID pathologist on the frontline of the COVID pandemic, the lab’s mechanistic research program remains grounded in understanding why invasive mold infections occur in otherwise healthy hosts. Given reports of 5-10% of patients with severe COVID developing 2° mold infection with high mortality, the lab is using innovative tools to evaluate why otherwise healthy individuals succumb to infection. In collaboration with colleagues in South India, the lab has expanded this work beyond Aspergillus (CAPA) to include devastating 2° sinus infections caused by Mucorales molds (CAM). Additionally, the lab studies dangerous molds (RGIII) that cause isolated brain infection and TB-like illness in healthy people, which, like SARS-2, require special ABSL-3/BSL-3 high containment research facilities. This work also has significant implications for a variety of neglected tropical fungal infections (keratitis, mycetoma, etc.) that are largely ignored by funding agencies, but afflict millions of otherwise healthy individuals in predominantly marginalized equatorial minority populations. Each study utilizes human samples, novel experimental and animal model systems, and incorporates screens to identify novel drugs that can be used to prevent or treat chronic debilitating infection. Lastly, the lab is working within containment to establish a pre-clinical model to clinical trials pipeline of novel non-invasive diagnostic imaging tests and therapeutics for deep-seated infections, including RGIII fungi.
