Systemic infections result from the invasion of hosts by microbial pathogens. A critical pathogenic determinant of microbes is their ability to translocate from the external environment into the host across mucosal barriers, disseminate systemically and reach protected tissues such as the central nervous system and the foetus.
Our research focuses on identifying the host-microbe interactions that allow microbes to specifically target host cells, cross mucosal, blood-brain and placental barriers, and disseminate systemically and within tissues. We also aim to investigate the consequences of these interactions for the microbe and the host in the development and resolution of infectious processes, and the intraspecies heterogeneity in both microbial virulence and host susceptibility to infection.
