Klemen Strle

Klemen Strle is a Research Assistant Professor in Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine. He holds adjunct positions at SUNY Albany (Biomedical Sciences) and previously served as an Instructor and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital (2011-2019). He also works as a Principal Scientist at Takeda in preclinical research.

Education: PhD in Animal Sciences (University of Illinois, 2007), MS (2001), and BS (1999), all from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Research focuses on Lyme disease immunopathogenesis: investigating immune response mechanisms, host-pathogen genetic interactions, and translational diagnostics. Uses genomic/transcriptomic approaches in clinical samples, with multi-center collaborations across US/Europe.

Key interests include: post-treatment Lyme symptoms (PTLDS), Borrelia burgdorferi virulence factors, and immune biomarkers for severe disease prediction. Active in proteomic resource development (Borrelia PeptideAtlas) and antibiotic-refractory arthritis mechanisms.

Notable collaborations involve European Lyme networks analyzing neuroborreliosis cases and North American teams studying plasmid-driven virulence in Borrelia strains.

Labs/Teams: Leads translational immunology lab at Tufts, collaborates with Broad Institute (email: KSTRLE@BRAODINSTITUTE.ORG), and maintains ties to Wadsworth Center (NY State Dept. of Health).