MIT associate professor of biology Rebecca Lamason studies bacteria that are harder to work with than common laboratory strains, including Rickettsia parkeri, a tickborne bacterium that causes a mild form of spotted fever, and Listeria monocytogenes, which is commonly linked to foodborne illness. MIT News reported on Nov. 6, 2026, that her lab has devised new tools for analysing such pathogens to learn how they take over host cell machinery.

In one recent finding, the lab observed that R. parkeri forms very tight connections with the endoplasmic reticulum, mimicking some interactions between the host cell's own organelles and that structure. The source says the lab is still working out the reason for the interaction, which has not been seen with other microbes. Separately, the lab reported in 2024 that it had developed the first technique for targeting specific genes in R. parkeri cells using CRISPR.

Lamason, who started her MIT lab in 2017, said the range of biological mechanisms is far from fully explored. She credited collaboration across MIT labs with helping her team pursue riskier ideas and learn new techniques.