Like all apicomplexan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii exhibits a complex life cycle, involving transmission and differentiation within and between different hosts. While Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria, is the most notorious member of this phylum, the accessibility of T.gondii as an experimental system allows this parasite to be used as a superior model organism for many questions that cannot be easily addressed in other Apicomplexans. The asexual life cycle closely resembles the life cycle of Plasmodium blood stages and many factors involved in different processes, especially the factors involved in host cell invasion and regulation of intracellular development can be efficiently studied in T.gondii.

Our research focuses on the mechanisms involved in invasion and modulation of the host cell, focusing on the characterisation of essential genes of interest (GOIs) that are believed to play a role in these processes. Since the whole machinery required for host cell invasion is linked to the secretory pathway of the parasite we are especially interested in defining the transport routes of essential invasion factors and to define the vesicular trafficking systems involved.