I'm excited to share our recent working using forward genetics to identify virulence determinants in Rickettsia. Check it out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A genetic screen identifies O-antigen as essential for Rickettsia parkeri survival in macrophages by protecting from inflammasomes and interferon-stimulated genes

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is highly immunostimulatory, yet it is evolutionarily conserved among many obligate intracellular bacteria for unknown reasons. We report a forward genetic screen to identify ...

biorxiv.org

Excited to share our latest work from first author Patrick Woida. Using a novel surface display platform for expression of split TurboID, we discovered that CYLD is recruited to the Listeria surface via the effector InlC and that it supports cell-to-cell spread www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Coxiella & Leishmania both reside within a lysosome-like compartment in human cells, but appear to modulate the protease cohort in different ways. I’m pleased to share our latest story here, out this week in I&I: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @hayleyjnewton.bsky.social @lauraem-lab.bsky.social

Intralysosomal pathogens differentially influence the proteolytic potential of their niche | Infection and Immunity

Evading lysosomal degradation is of critical importance to successful intracellular pathogens. The lysosome, classically considered the waste disposal and recycling center of the cell, is a hostile en...

journals.asm.org

Check out our latest paper from first author Allison Scott using a powerful enrichment strategy to enable transcriptional profiling of the early stages of a rickettsial infection

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Hybrid capture RNA-seq defines temporal gene expression in Rickettsia https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.04.697603v1

Thrilled to share our latest story from postdoc @sitbrandon.bsky.social! Using a functional genetic screen, he discovered an unexpected way that Rickettsia relies on the host to stabilize the Sca2 surface protein that drives pathogen motility and virulence.

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Host cyclophilin-mediated maturation of an obligate intracellular bacterial surface virulence factor https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.28.684717v1

#Legionella pumps 100s of effector proteins into host cells, including to #mitochondria. @drdstojanovski.bsky.social &co show that effector LpPIP is a tail-anchored protein of the MOM that recruits protein phosphatase 1 to modulate the host mitochondrial P-proteome @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4f2T5kE

Excited to share this story from my PhD, out today in Nature Communications! We show that Coxiella removes cathepsin B to reduce lysosomal hostility and promote bacterial success. This depends on a vacuole established by effector CvpB. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Coxiella burnetii manipulates the lysosomal protease cathepsin B to facilitate intracellular success - Nature Communications

The zoonotic pathogen Coxiella burnetiiestablishes a unique intracellular niche within a lysosome-derived vacuole. Here Bird et al. undertook proteomic, cell biology and microbiology approaches to cha...

nature.com