Faculty

Experience / Honor

Research

Research Interests: host-pathogen interaction

Our group focuses on basic mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens can manipulate the host’s innate immune system for survival. The model organism utilized in the lab is Listeria monocytogenes, an intracellular pathogen that has been shown as a great model organism to study molecular biology. Elucidating the interaction of L. monocytogenes and the host enables us to uncover new principles of how bacterial pathogens deploy virulence factors to undermine the host defense responses. 

L. monocytogenes infection in children, elderly or immunocompromised individuals could experience severe, life-threatening symptoms. Further, neonatal infections caused by L. monocytogenes in pregnant women could lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes. 

Our research interrogates the molecular mechanisms of L. monocytogenes infection during pregnancy, a work that also has implications for understanding other placental pathologies. 

Lab Member