Understanding Legionella pneumophilia Immune Evasion

The immune system has evolved a diverse array of tools to detect and eliminate foreign pathogens from the body. Bacteria too have evolved methods to interfere with the immune system’s ability to detect them. This allows bacteria to be able to replicate and cause a longer illness. Our project looks to find out how the bacteria which causes Legionnaire’s Disease, Legionella pneumophilia, can hijack the danger sensing signaling pathways in immune cells to avoid detection. We will see what proteins inside the cell are targeted by L. pneumophilia and how they turn off the cell’s ability to “see” this bacterium. By understanding these immune evasion methods, better tools for fighting bacterial infections can be developed.

Faculty Supervisor:

Adam Gehring

Student:

Partner:

Monash University (Hudson Institute of Medical Research)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: