The broad scope of our research is understanding host-pathogen interactions. We currently work with the bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, a major human pathogen responsible for a broad range of diseases including pneumonia, bloodstream and skin and soft tissue infections. We investigate the interaction of S. aureus with the host innate immune system, covering the fields of bacterial pathogenesis and innate immunity. Our more immunological studies look at innate immune cell function and development, and how this impacts bacterial infection. We also study the Gram negative Acinetobacter baumannii in the context of host-pathogen interactions. Our studies take a multi-disciplinary approach that includes both in vitro and in vivo techniques that span microbiology, immunology, cell biology and molecular biology.

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Techniques include:

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Immunology: ELISA, TLR/NLR knockouts, animal models (pneumonia, sepsis, skin), transgenic mice, depletion models, tissue-specific knockouts, flow cytometry, cell sorting

Microbiology: bacteriological growth and handling, enumeration, electroporation, genetics, various functional assays, seahorse, metabolic outputs

Molecular biology: DNA and RNA extraction, qRT-PCR, western blotting, PCR, animal genotyping, RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, single cell RNA -seq, microscopy, proteomics, tissue culture, primary neutrophils, alveolar macrophages, BMM, BMDC, airway epithelial cells

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