University of Alabama Birmingham
At UAB, my research program will focus on investigating innate immune-bacterial interactions in the respiratory tract, where I will emphasize studies of Gram-positive bacterial species and their role in microbial community development. I am broadly interested in how the host epithelial innate immune response impacts individual microbes and populations of microbes in multi-species communities, influencing bacterial pathogenicity and persistence. In my studies, I use airway epithelial cell co-culture models to investigate host-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions occurring in polymicrobial respiratory infections. Next-generation sequencing approaches, including whole-genome sequencing of clinical isolates and dual host-pathogen RNA sequencing, allow my laboratory to investigate bacterial evolution during infection and to evaluate transcriptomic changes occurring in both the airway epithelium and bacterial pathogens during co-infections. I will use these techniques to evaluate how pathogens and commensal microbes sense and respond to changes in host immune status and will seek to further develop new model systems for investigating host-polymicrobial interactions. By examining the crosstalk occurring between microbes at the mucosal interface, I hope to make significant contributions towards our understanding of how changes in the host environment impact complex bacterial communities and affect disease progression.
Friday, November 4, 2022
12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET