Research Interests
My research focuses on the pathogenesis and clinical outcomes of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections. Using large clinical isolate collections linked to detailed patient metadata, I integrate bacterial genomics, antibiotic tolerance phenotyping, and experimental infection models to define how S. aureus adapts during invasive disease. A central theme of my work is understanding how bacterial phenotypes such as antibiotic tolerance and immune evasion influence host inflammatory responses, treatment failure, and relapse. By combining human immunologic assays with in vivo models, my goal is to identify pathogen- and host-derived biomarkers that can predict complicated infections and inform more precise therapeutic strategies for patients with severe S. aureus infections.