Our research focuses on bacterial diseases of production animals, including their effects on animal health, human health and food safety. The long-term goal of one of our projects is to understand the molecular pathogenesis of Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC)-caused diseases. ExPEC are the causative agents of such diverse diseases as avian colibacillosis and human urinary tract infection, neonatal meningitis, and sepsis. Understanding ExPEC virulence, resistance, and host specificity should lead to more rational approaches for future disease control. Also, we are exploring the role that plasmids play in the pathogenesis of bacterial disease and in the evolution of bacterial virulence and resistance. Various approaches are used in these studies including classical bacteriologic, functional genomic, and proteomic techniques in order to gain an appreciation for the total host: pathogen interaction.