My lab is interested in uncovering innate immune mechanisms used by the host to defend itself against bacterial pathogens and how bacterial pathogens evade host immunity to cause disease.

We study host:pathogen interactions using a variety of gram-negative bacteria, including the intracellular bacterial pathogens Legionella pneumophila, Coxiella burnetii, and Salmonella Typhimurium, and the extracellular pathogen Yersinia, with the goal of identifying shared and unique features of innate immunity and bacterial virulence.