The Antimicrobial Response of Human Neutrophils to Opportunistic Pathogens

This project will study the antimicrobial responses of human neutrophils using two opportunistic human pathogens, the fungus Candida albicans and the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Although these microorganisms are usually commensal rather than pathogenic, in patients that are already sick or immunocompromised both organisms can cause life-threatening infections resistant to current antimicrobial therapies. Neutrophils are an essential component of the initial innate immune response to these pathogens, and so are key to understanding how these microbes are held in check by a healthy immune system. This project will extract neutrophils from human blood and then expose them in vitro to C. albicans and P. aeruginosa, measuring the effect on both neutrophil and microbe using cell-death assays, fluorescence microscopy, total proteomics and phospho-proteomics. These results will offer greater insight into neutrophil biology, and may inform future research to develop new treatments for opportunistic pathogens.