Research

Our lab studies a parasite named Cryptosporidium that invades, grows, and replicates within cells that line the intestine. This parasite can live in a very wide range of vertebrate hosts… there are species that infect mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles… even fish. In humans, Cryptosporidium is a common infection that causes a severe, but typically self-limiting, diarrheal disease. In malnourished or immunocompromised patients, however, these infections can be life threatening. Young children are also highly susceptible to Cryptosporidium and disproportionately bear the brunt of disease.

Despite this serious impact on public health, there are no effective treatments and the knowledge base to drive their development is lacking. Put simply, very little is known about how the parasite establishes infection and how the immune system detects and responds. Using a combination of genetic and molecular tools, we study Cryptosporidium infection and immunity to expand this knowledge base. Our hope is that a better understanding of the host-parasite interactions will open up new avenues for therapy and prevention of disease.

Research highlighted in:

Cell Host & Microbe – ‘Exciting Contributions to the Cryptosporidium Renaissance‘

Nature – ‘CRISPR for Cryptosporidium‘

Publications

20 most recent publications. Full list here.

Shaw, S, Sateriale, A, Pawlowic, MC, Vinayak, S, Brooks, CF, Byerly, JH et al.. Genetic Manipulation of Cryptosporidium parvum. Methods Mol Biol. 2026;2978 :173-185. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4824-7_13. PubMed PMID:41144208 .

Haase, S, Sateriale, A. Why transport matters: an update on carrier proteins in Apicomplexan parasites. Curr Opin Microbiol. 2025;88 :102663. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2025.102663. PubMed PMID:40925062 .

Watson, LC, Sala, KA, Bernitz, N, Baumgärtel, L, Pallett, MA, Marzook, NB et al.. Targeted CRISPR screens reveal genes essential for Cryptosporidium survival in the host intestine. Nat Commun. 2025;16 (1):7749. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63012-1. PubMed PMID:40835841 PubMed Central PMC12368253.

Rodrigues, E, Marzook, NB, Pallett, MA, Sateriale, A. Convergent mechanisms of epithelial cell structure manipulation by intestinal pathogens. PLoS Pathog. 2025;21 (7):e1013367. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1013367. PubMed PMID:40743117 PubMed Central PMC12312946.

Marzook, NB, Song, OR, Baumgärtel, L, Bernitz, N, Mkandawire, TT, Watson, LC et al.. The essential host genome for Cryptosporidium survival exposes metabolic dependencies that can be leveraged for treatment. Cell. 2025;188 (21):5947-5961.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.07.001. PubMed PMID:40706591 .

Rodrigues, E, Pallett, MA, Straker, LC, Mkandawire, TT, Sala, K, Collinson, L et al.. Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an exported virulence factor. Cell Host Microbe. 2025;33 (5):719-730.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2025.04.001. PubMed PMID:40300595 .

Maradana, MR, Marzook, NB, Diaz, OE, Mkandawire, T, Diny, NL, Li, Y et al.. Dietary environmental factors shape the immune defense against Cryptosporidium infection. Cell Host Microbe. 2023;31 (12):2038-2050.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2023.11.008. PubMed PMID:38052207 .

Quintana, JF, Harding, C, Huet, D, Sateriale, A, Bernabeu, M. Editorial: Disruptive technologies for the study of host-pathogen interactions. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022;12 :1048342. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.1048342. PubMed PMID:36310863 PubMed Central PMC9608136.

Gibson, AR, Sateriale, A, Dumaine, JE, Engiles, JB, Pardy, RD, Gullicksrud, JA et al.. A genetic screen identifies a protective type III interferon response to Cryptosporidium that requires TLR3 dependent recognition. PLoS Pathog. 2022;18 (5):e1010003. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010003. PubMed PMID:35584177 PubMed Central PMC9154123.

Mkandawire, TT, Sateriale, A. The Long and Short of Next Generation Sequencing for Cryptosporidium Research. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022;12 :871860. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.871860. PubMed PMID:35419299 PubMed Central PMC8995782.

Dumaine, JE, Sateriale, A, Gibson, AR, Reddy, AG, Gullicksrud, JA, Hunter, EN et al.. The enteric pathogen Cryptosporidium parvum exports proteins into the cytosol of the infected host cell. Elife. 2021;10 :. doi: 10.7554/eLife.70451. PubMed PMID:34866573 PubMed Central PMC8687662.

Baptista, RP, Li, Y, Sateriale, A, Sanders, MJ, Brooks, KL, Tracey, A et al.. Long-read assembly and comparative evidence-based reanalysis of Cryptosporidium genome sequences reveal expanded transporter repertoire and duplication of entire chromosome ends including subtelomeric regions. Genome Res. 2022;32 (1):203-213. doi: 10.1101/gr.275325.121. PubMed PMID:34764149 PubMed Central PMC8744675.

Gullicksrud, JA, Sateriale, A, Engiles, JB, Gibson, AR, Shaw, S, Hutchins, ZA et al.. Enterocyte-innate lymphoid cell crosstalk drives early IFN-γ-mediated control of Cryptosporidium. Mucosal Immunol. 2022;15 (2):362-372. doi: 10.1038/s41385-021-00468-6. PubMed PMID:34750455 PubMed Central PMC8881313.

Hasan, MM, Stebbins, EE, Choy, RKM, Gillespie, JR, de Hostos, EL, Miller, P et al.. Spontaneous Selection of Cryptosporidium Drug Resistance in a Calf Model of Infection. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2021;65 (6):. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00023-21. PubMed PMID:33753338 PubMed Central PMC8316126.

Li, Y, Baptista, RP, Sateriale, A, Striepen, B, Kissinger, JC. Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNA in Cryptosporidium parvum Reveals Significant Stage-Specific Antisense Transcription. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2020;10 :608298. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.608298. PubMed PMID:33520737 PubMed Central PMC7840661.

Sateriale, A, Gullicksrud, JA, Engiles, JB, McLeod, BI, Kugler, EM, Henao-Mejia, J et al.. The intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium is controlled by an enterocyte intrinsic inflammasome that depends on NLRP6. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118 (2):. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2007807118. PubMed PMID:33372132 PubMed Central PMC7812745.

Marzook, NB, Sateriale, A. Crypto-Currency: Investing in New Models to Advance the Study of Cryptosporidium Infection and Immunity. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2020;10 :587296. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.587296. PubMed PMID:33312965 PubMed Central PMC7708325.

Widmer, G, Carmena, D, Kváč, M, Chalmers, RM, Kissinger, JC, Xiao, L et al.. Update on Cryptosporidium spp.: highlights from the Seventh International Giardia and Cryptosporidium Conference. Parasite. 2020;27 :14. doi: 10.1051/parasite/2020011. PubMed PMID:32167464 PubMed Central PMC7069357.

Pawlowic, MC, Somepalli, M, Sateriale, A, Herbert, GT, Gibson, AR, Cuny, GD et al.. Genetic ablation of purine salvage in Cryptosporidium parvum reveals nucleotide uptake from the host cell. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116 (42):21160-21165. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1908239116. PubMed PMID:31570573 PubMed Central PMC6800313.

Tandel, J, English, ED, Sateriale, A, Gullicksrud, JA, Beiting, DP, Sullivan, MC et al.. Life cycle progression and sexual development of the apicomplexan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum. Nat Microbiol. 2019;4 (12):2226-2236. doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0539-x. PubMed PMID:31477896 PubMed Central PMC6877471.

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People

Contact

Come join us! The Cryptosporidiosis laboratory is part of the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research centre located in the heart of London. Research at the Crick Institute is highly diverse with cutting edge science from many disciplines under one roof. While we are primarily parasitologists, we are always looking for researchers the will expand the scientific diversity of our lab. Interested? Looking for more information about current projects and opportunities? Contact adam.sateriale@crick.ac.uk.