Dr. Luo laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms that allow microbial pathogens to survive and multiply within the hostile host cells and how host cells respond to infection. They use Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires disease as a model organism. Dr. Luo’s research is to determine the function of these proteins and their roles in bacterial infection. The second focus is to examine the mechanism of the detection and response of immune cells to intracellular pathogens, particularly the signaling pathway involved in the detection of the bacterial ribosomal protein RpsL that triggers lysosomal cell death.