Biography
Dr. Kaval is an Assistant Professor NTR in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UTHealth Houston, specializing in bacterial genetics and super-resolution microscopy. His research investigates how Treponema pallidum – the causative agent of syphilis, bejel, and yaws – establishes persistent infections in humans. Because culturing T. pallidum in vitro is challenging, he is developing axenic culturing techniques to promote growth and enable genetic modification of this organism. He is also employing AI-driven protein modeling to determine the functions of hypothetical proteins in this organism’s minimal genome.
Given his prior experience with gastrointestinal pathogens, he is also developing additional projects to study the regulatory pathways that modulate Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis in response to host-derived bile salts.
Education
- Ph.D.
- Microbiology, Robert Koch Institute, Wernigerode/Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany
- M.Sc.
- Molecular Medicine, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
- B.Tech.
- Biotechnology, VIT University, Vellore, India
Areas of Interest
Research Interests
Bacterial genetics, pathogenesis of spirochetes and gastrointestinal bacteria.