研究テーマ

• Cell intrinsic immunity to bacterial infection

キーワード

• Legionnaire’s disease
• Metagenomics
• Innate immune responses

研究概要

• Many bacterial pathogens have acquired the capacity to replicate inside human cells by avoiding cell intrinsic innate immune pathways. Pathogens such as Legionella and Burkholderia species are environmental organisms that cause the life-threatening opportunistic infections known as Legionnaire’s Disease and Melioidosis respectively. A feature of both pathogens is the capacity of the bacteria to replicate within human cells through the manipulation of host cell biology. This depends on the injection of multiple virulence effector proteins into the host cell during infection. Our goal is to identify and characterise effectors that interact with cell intrinsic innate immune pathways. Through this we are discovering the impact of bacterial infection on host cell stress signalling pathways and metabolism and exploring how this intersects with the innate immune response. Ultimately this will allow us to understand the molecular mechanisms by which intracellular bacteria cause disease and inform new ways of enhancing cell intrinsic resistance mechanisms to reduce intracellular bacterial replication.