Indira Mysorekar, PhD, MS

I am a cell and developmental biologist investigating host-microbial interactions in the placenta and the urinary bladder mucosa. My lab has established a research focus in four different areas: 1) Impact of urinary tract infections (UTIs) on bladder tissue biology and the role of autophagy in this process; 2) Age-associated immune dysfunction in the female genitourinary tract; 3) Vertical transmission of infections during pregnancy, including Zika virus, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), HIV (AIDS), and Treponema pallidum (syphilis); and, 4) discovery and characterization of microbes in the placenta, their role in fetal tolerance, and cellular defenses at the maternal-fetal interface. We investigate related mechanisms using human samples from clinical cohorts, animal models, trophoblast organoid models, and primary and cultured placental cells. We are simultaneously translating our bench findings into the clinic with uro-gynecologists, obstetricians, and infectious disease physicians, with the long-term goal of understanding how microbial exposures influence immunity and tolerance toward improving the health of aging and pregnant women. I have a long-standing commitment to building collaborative, basic and translational research programs in reproductive health, and mentoring the next generation of leaders in women’s genitourinary tract health science.