Illuminating within-host infection dynamics in space and time

A fundamental challenge in infection biology is predicting the dynamics of within-host microbial growth and immune activation. However, data typically comes as static snapshots, limiting our ability to test theories. Therefore, we established live imaging of a powerful model organism: the larval fruit fly. I will discuss how we used light sheet fluorescence microscopy to follow gene expression dynamics in nearly every cell of the immune system alongside bacterial abundances, leading to the discovery of spatial microenvironments that are primed for the rapid expression of antimicrobials. This approach enables testing theories that predict infection outcomes from cellular behaviors. 

MBIM Seminar Series