Grant: Project Grant

Intracellular bacterial pathogens present a major public health concern, especially given the increasing emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains. Using Salmonella as a model system in mice, we showed that individuals infected by Salmonella show discrepancies in response efficiency: some are more resistant, while others are more susceptible. By observing the genetic activity in more resistant and more susceptible individuals, we have identified a new protein named CYRI that plays a protective role in Salmonella infections but also against tuberculosis and listeriosis. The proposed research project will help better understand the function of CYRI and yield important insights into its role in infection. Precise knowledge of host defenses would be extremely valuable for diagnosis, prediction and monitoring of disease progression, and novel therapeutic avenues to fight bacterial infection.