Staphylococcal persistence in host tissues

Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for a raft of different infections ranging from superficial to invasive, mild to fatal. Infections can affect multiple anatomical sites including the skin (furuncles, abscesses), mucosae (rhinosinusitis), bloodstream (bacteraemia) and musculoskeletal system (osteomyelitis, tissue abscess).Despite apparently appropriate antimicrobial therapy many of these infections can become recurrent or chronic. This means that S. aureus is able to persist within host tissues, in spite of host immune surveillance and antimicrobial therapy. As such, eradication of S. aureus from host tissues represents a major clinical challenge. Research in my lab is concerned with elucidating the molecular mechanisms of S. aureuspersistence within host tissues. This has the potential to identify novel targets for prophylactic or therapeutic interventions as well as biomarkers to predict the likelihood of recurrent infection.