Investigator, Assistant Professor Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Mass General Research Institute

Assistant Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

antibiotic resistance; bacterial biofilms; bacterial pathogenesis; chronic disease; epithelial cell differentiation; host-pathogen interactions; lung infection; metabolites; microbiology; molecular microbiology; pseudomonas aeruginosa; respiratory mucosa Chronic bacterial infections affect millions of people worldwide and are often resistant to antibiotic treatment. During these infections, pathogenic bacteria establish long-term interactions with host tissues, leading to co-adaptation. This process not only allows bacteria to adapt to their new environment but can also induce host tissue adaptations that influence health and disease progression. Our goal is to understand these co-adaptations and leverage this knowledge to improve treatment efficacy.

We are particularly focused on chronic lung infections. To investigate how bacterial pathogens grow, survive, and interact with lung cells, we are building an interdisciplinary team that will include microbiologists, tissue engineers, developmental biologists, immunologists, and computational biologists. By using advanced in vitro tissue models (tissue culturing and organoids), combined with clinical data and patient samples, we examine the physiological dynamics of both pathogen and host during these infections.