Bacterial pathogens constitute a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality. Understanding host-pathogen interactions, the physiological consequences on the human host, and protective immune responses, may enable to uncover novel anti-infections therapeutics and targeted interventions.
What happens to our body when invading pathogens breech its protective surfaces? How does our immune system engage these pathogens in protecting the human host? How do bacteria manipulate the immune system to survive and inflict damage to the invaded host? Our WIS research groups utilize cross-disciplinary microbiological, genomic, immune, imaging, and computational platforms to extensively profile and precisely monitor host-pathogen interactions during infections in living tissues and look closely at the cellular and genomic interactions orchestrating them. In doing so, we develop new strategies to prevent and tackle life-threatening human infection.