Introducing Our New Identity: The BREATHE Gestal Lab

For years, our research has centered on understanding how Bordetella species manipulate the host immune system to persist and reshape airway biology causing. Our work revealed an unexpected player in this story: eosinophils. Traditionally associated with parasitic infections and allergies, eosinophils turn out to play a powerful and surprising role in bacterial infections.From demonstrating how Bordetella induces eosinophil-rich iBALT structures, to showing that eosinophils can serve as intracellular niches that support bacterial persistence, and revealing how Bordetella suppresses eosinophil-mediated immunity through IL-1Ra, our published work consistently highlights the unexpected ways this pathogen modulates host responses. Our studies in airway epithelial models and murine infections further show how these immunomodulatory strategies influence airway inflammation and remodeling. Across these findings, our goal remains the same: to understand how Bordetella reshapes the respiratory immune landscape to promote long-term infection and disease exacerbation.

We made this change because we want trainees, collaborators, and the scientific community to immediately understand what we do. The name Gestal Lab will always remain part of our identity but BREATHE makes our mission visible.

This new branding marks an exciting step forward, one that aligns with our expanding research directions and our commitment to advancing the understanding of host–pathogen interactions in respiratory disease.

Thank you for being part of our journey.

We’re proud to keep moving science forward, one breath at a time.