Mike Griffith

My academic background is as a parasitologist that studies the cell biology of parasites to better understand how they function. As such, I love teaching classes about microorganisms and using the cell biology of pathogens to explain how they succeed in the environment. My research focuses on identifying novel therapeutic compounds to treat the opportunistic pathogen Naegleria fowleri. Students in my lab use the closely related non-pathogenic Naegleria gruberi and bacterial isolates from local water sources to screen for bacteria that are able to inhibit Naegleria growth using common microbiology assays and approaches.