I am an evolutionary biologist whose major research goal is to understand why and how bacteria become pathogens. Identifying common features of pathogen emergence - whether they be repeated genomic changes or shared epidemiological contexts - would give us predictive power. This might allow us to forecast pathogen emergence, to develop preventative strategies, or improve treatments.
Pathogenesis, immunobiology, prevention and treatment of bacterial infections
My current research develops and applies multidisciplinary approaches to unravel the links between in vivo pathogen behaviour (location, division, death, gene regulation and spread), immunity, immunoevasion and the efficacy of vaccines and antibiotics. We are currently extending our research to development of new vaccines against bacterial septicaemic diseases.
