Our work is focused on virulence factor regulation and innate immune modulation by pathogenic streptococci. Our work is currently focused on two important pathogens, Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus), the causative agent of economically important infections in multiple animal hosts which has also emerged as a major human pathogen, and the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus). We seek to identify regulatory genes that enable the bacteria to switch from a benign to invasive disease state and characterise their mechanism of action and impact on host immune defences. We are also interested to use this information to better understand and characterise the factors driving host-species adaptation of S. agalactiae, which causes significant disease in humans, cattle and fish. This article was published on 2024-09-02
