Fata Moradali, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Room 355, School of Dentistry
Office Phone: 502-852-5528
Email: fata.moradali@louisville.edu
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0230-5006
Research Updates & News:
https://moradalilab.carrd.co/
Research Themes
Chronic Infections and Inflammation Biology
Host-Microbiome Interactions Immunomodulatory Mechanisms
Immunosignaling networks, crosstalk Dynamics & Immunometabolomics in host defense
Oral-Systemic Axis: Periodontal Diseases and Alzheimer’s Disease
Translational Systems Biology & Multi-Omics Integration
The human microbiome, the diverse community of microorganisms living in and on our bodies, plays a critical role in maintaining health and shaping inflammatory responses by producing molecular signals. Likewise, the immune system depends on complex signaling networks to detect these microbial cues, assess potential threats, regulate inflammation, and protect tissues. When the balance between microbial signals and immune signaling is disrupted, it can contribute to a wide range of diseases. Microbiome-driven chronic infections and the many inflammation-related conditions that follow, including those linked to oral and gut dysbiosis such as certain cancers, neuroinflammatory disorders, and autoimmune diseases, pose a major global health challenge. Yet despite their impact, the mechanisms by which microbiome disruption alters immune signaling to drive chronic inflammation and disease progression remain poorly understood.
Our research laboratory investigates the fundamental cellular, molecular, and metabolic mechanisms that govern host-microbiome interactions, with a particular emphasis on how dysbiotic microbial communities disrupt immune signaling to drive chronic infections and persistent inflammation. By integrating mechanistic biology with advanced analytical technologies, our long-term goal is to translate foundational discoveries into innovative therapeutic strategies, diagnostic platforms, and transformative technologies.
A major focus of our program centers on chronic infections originating in the oral cavity and gut and their systemic consequences. We aim to define how microbiome imbalance and microbial virulence factors reshape immune responses, establish self-sustaining inflammatory microenvironments, and reprogram host cells. Our work dissects the interconnected immune signaling networks perturbed by persistent pathogens, networks that contribute to disease progression both locally and systemically, including pathways implicated in neuroinflammation, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
A distinguishing component of our research is the investigation of microbial immunomodulatory signals that regulate innate immune cell behavior. We study how these microbial cues influence core cellular processes, ultimately reprogramming both innate and adaptive immunity. Through state-of-the-art high-resolution metabolomics, lipidomics, immunometabolomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, we map the dynamic transitions in immune signaling and immunometabolic pathways within chronically infected tissues and clinical samples—identifying potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Our approach is deeply interdisciplinary. We integrate systems biology and multi-omics frameworks with molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, computational and mathematical modeling, and bioengineering. Leveraging advanced LC-MS/MS-based multi-Omics platforms established in our lab, we quantitatively characterize immunometabolic networks across infection and inflammation. These analyses are supported by diverse in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo models, comprehensive multi-omics datasets, and clinically relevant human samples from both adults and children, enabling us to capture disease complexity across biological scales and ensure translational relevance.
Together, our research program aims to build a comprehensive understanding of the immunometabolic and signaling frameworks that underlie microbiome-driven chronic infections and to harness these insights to develop new tools, diagnostics, and interventions that improve human health.
Our current projects focus on:
Defining the structural and functional diversity of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and related endotoxins in key periodontal and gut pathogens, and determining how these molecular variations modulate host immune signaling, drive local inflammations, and contribute to systemic conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancers.
Dissecting cyclic di-nucleotide (CDN) signaling systems within the oral microbiome: elucidating how these bacterial second messengers regulate immune activation, inflammatory tone, and host-microbiome communication.
Exploring how pathogens reshape immunometabolism, including their impact on core metabolic pathways, redox states, nutrient use, and metabolic checkpoints that govern innate and adaptive immune responses.
Investigating the mechanistic connection between the oral microbiome in children and early-life inflammatory conditions, with the goal of understanding how microbiome-immune interactions during childhood may act as a window into susceptibility to chronic inflammatory diseases in adulthood
Applying molecular engineering, advanced imaging, and multi-omics approaches to map the molecular and cellular interactions that define chronic inflammatory microenvironments and to uncover mechanistic drivers of persistent inflammation.
Conducting translational research that bridges basic discoveries with clinical application, with an emphasis on developing diagnostic biomarkers, immunomodulatory molecules, and new therapeutic strategies targeting microbiome-driven inflammation.
Current Funding
- Pathoadaptive modulation of lipopolysaccharide structure and function in periodontal pathogens, 1R01DE033702-01 (PI)
- The control of LPS heterogeneity and virulence by C-di-AMP signaling in Porphyromonas gingivalis, R03 DE031854 (PI)
- Contribution of P. gingivalis LPS heterogeneity to inflammatory responses and development of Alzheimer`s Disease biomarkers, 3R03DE031854-01 (PI)
- Regulation of LPS structure and function in P. gingivalis. P20 GM125504 (PI)
Membership
The University of Louisville Center for Biomedical Research (COBRE), in Functional Microbiomics, Inflammation and Pathogenicity (Research Project Leader)
Current lab members
 | Masoud Hamidi, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Associate |
| Suraj Adhikari, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Associate |
Former lab members
| Ratnam Seelan, Ph.D. Former Senior Scientist |
|---|
Selected Publications
- The multifaceted role of c-di-AMP signaling in the regulation of Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide structure and function. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 14:1418651 (2024)
- Growth of Porphyromonas gingivalis on human serum albumin triggers programmed cell death. J Oral Microbiol,15(1):2161182 (2023)
- Atypical cyclic di-AMP signaling is essential for Porphyromonas gingivalis growth and regulation of cell envelope homeostasis and virulence. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 8, 53 (2022)
- Metabolic plasticity enables lifestyle transitions of Porphyromonas gingivalis. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 7(1):46 (2021)
- Biopolymers for biomedical and biotechnological applications. John Wiley & Sons (2021)
- Microbial cell factories for biomanufacturing of polysaccharides. In: Biopolymers for biomedical and biotechnological applications. John Wiley & Sons. (2021)
- PPAD activity promotes outer membrane vesicle biogenesis and surface translocation by Porphyromonas gingivalis. Journal of Bacteriology, 203(4) (2020)
- Bacterial biopolymers: from pathogenesis to advanced materials. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 18, 195–210 (2020)
- The regulation of alginate biosynthesis via cyclic di-GMP signaling. In: Microbial cyclic di-nucleotide signaling. Springer (2020)
- Amino acids as wetting agents: surface translocation by Porphyromonas gingivalis. The ISME Journal, 13: 1560–1574 (2019)
- The role of alginate in bacterial biofilm formation. In: Extracellular sugar-based biopolymers matrices. Biologically-inspired systems, vol 12. Springer (2019)
- Alginates and their biomedical applications. Springer. (2018)
- Activation mechanism and cellular localization of membrane-anchored alginate polymerase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 83 (9) e03499-16. (2017)
- Alginate polymerization and modification are linked in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. mBio, 6 (3) e00453-15 (2015)