Lab Mission

Welcome to the Clayton Lab! As a team, we aim to understand why the human immune system, specifically Natural Killer (NK) cells, fail to control pathogens that establish chronic infections. To do this, we have sought to compare and contrast how different viruses and bacteria alter the phenotype of their host cell to manipulate NK cell phenotypes and function. Our model pathogens include HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and human herpesviruses, which together infect almost every individual globally. Our established in vitro model systems, using primary human immune cells and clinical isolates of these pathogens, provides us the opportunity to study the mechanistic underpinnings of pathogen resistance to NK cell cytolytic pressure. The central hypothesis that drives our work is that while infecting a hard-to-kill cell type (such as a macrophage) provides a protected “hide out” for several pathogens, each pathogen employs unique mechanisms to evade NK cell trigger/recognition when infecting a more easily killed target. From a translational perspective, our long-term goal is to develop strategies to enhance NK cell control of these pathogens.