How does an animal respond to wounds from pathogens or mechanical damage?
In recent years, the nematode C. elegans has been increasingly used as a genetically tractable model for the dissection of host-pathogen relationships. We have focused on the interaction between C. elegans and the obligate fungal pathogen Drechmeria coniospora to address the question, “How does an animal respond to infection”? Our close collaborative work with Jonathan Ewbank has been divided into 2 complementary areas, focused genetic and cell-biological dissection of specific signalling modules, and functional genomic and computational approaches to reconstruct a global innate immune network. Together, these have allowed us to build a more and more detailed understanding of the host response to infection and wounding, from the molecular to the organismal level.
