Research interests
Macrophages are cells of the innate immune system and as professional phagocytes often the first cells to encounter incoming pathogens. It is known that macrophage polarization requires cell intrinsic changes of the metabolism and thus, studying macrophage metabolism can give insightful information about their state during infection.
This becomes especially interesting in infections with intracellular bacteria, like Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium), which adapted to persist, or even proliferate within macrophages. In my PhD project, I want to gain knowledge about the metabolic changes macrophages undergo during Salmonella infection and identify key metabolites and/or metabolic regulators that can modulate infection outcome.
