My lab studies Giardia lamblia. Giardia is an important parasitethat affects a wide variety of animal hosts, including over 100 million (mostly impoverished) people each year. Treatment options are limited; therefore, the WHO has recognized Giardiasis as a neglected disease. In addition toGiardia being a major parasite, this organism stands out as one of the most evolutionary divergent eukaryotes (from animals) that can be manipulated in the laboratory. Many evolutionary studies have placed Giardia at the base of the eukaryotic tree; therefore, Giardia is a window in which evolutionarily deep cellular mechanisms may be examined.