Genetics of nematode development and innate immunity

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Better understanding of developmental processes, responses to infectious stress and mechanisms of defense against bacterial infection are all central to medical progress. This project aims to investigate these processes in a simple and very tractable system, the tiny nematode worm C. elegans, which can be infected by a nematode-specific bacterium called M. nematophilum. We are interested in studying medically relevant questions in this system, such as how pathogenic bacteria are able to infect their hosts, how the host is able to detect bacteria and activate defensive reactions, and what kinds of molecules are used to combat infection. Nematodes cannot make antibodies, so they may use different kinds of immunity from mammals. The M. nematophilum bacterium also causes shape change in infected worms, allowing investigation of several questions in developmental biology. Lastly, the infection provides a new way to study the surface of nematodes, which is relevant to the control of parasitic nematodes, many of which are medically or economically important.