One research focus is to discern the impact of metabolism and signaling on pathogenesis, persistence and adaptation of parasites. It also helps us fathom comparative metabolic designs and underlying regulation in parasites with respect to mammalian host cells, which is vital to find specific intervention strategies. Another thrust area is Optobiology with a particular focus on optogenetic dissection of cyclic nucleotides signaling. Our work blends the bottom-up methods of biochemistry, gene engineering and cell biology with multi-omics (metabolomics, transcriptomics, phosphoproteomics), bioinformatics and optogenetics.