Dr. Tabatabai’s research interests are in protein chemistry, proteomics and structure/function relationships of bacterial proteins that play a role in pathogenesis of disease. She is particularly interested in proteins, enzymes and virulence of the respiratory pathogens Pasteurella haemolytica and Haemophilus parasuiswhich cause respiratory disease in cattle and swine, respectively, and brucellosis caused by Brucella abortus a pathogen of cattle and wildlife as well as humans. Although commercial vaccines are available for the respiratory diseases, these are not completely effective. Dr. Tabatabai is especially interested in studies on protein structure to provide information on protein sequences responsible for the induction of protective humoral and cellular mediated immune responses.