Our laboratory studies Legionella pneumophila, the bacterial agent of Legionnaires' Disease pneumonia and Pontiac Fever. Research efforts include understanding the protein secretion systems and iron acquisition pathways that contribute to the organism's ability to infect host cells and the lung. Our laboratory has also identified a new species of Legionella (L. cardiaca) that is linked to heart infection. Finally, we study Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Klebsiella pneumonia, highly antibiotic resistant bacteria that are increasingly associated with human infections.