Project description
When immunity shields infection
Antibiotics revolutionised medicine, but bacterial infections remain one of the world’s most persistent killers. While drug-resistant ‘superbugs’ get most of the attention, they are not the only threat. New research shows that bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus can actually retreat inside our own immune cells to survive. By using these cells as shields, pathogens can hide from antibiotics and lie dormant, only to resurface long after treatment ends. The ERC-funded ImmunoSynergy project aims to map the interaction between pathogens and the immune system’s internal structures in real-time using ultra-high-resolution imaging. The goal is to develop new therapies that prevent pathogens from nesting. This approach bridges the gap between immunity and medicine to stop relapsing infections before they start.
Objective
Antibiotics are among the greatest medical achievements of the 20th century and have significantly extended human lifespan. Nevertheless, bacterial infectious diseases continue to be a leading cause of death worldwide. Antibiotic treatment failures are common and typically linked to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), though resistance genes are not always present in such cases. Innate immune cells, particularly phagocytes serve as the first line of defence against infection, but they can paradoxically become reservoirs for certain pathogens. Within host cells, these bacteria are shielded from many antibiotic classes and may adopt persister phenotypes that confer tolerance, enabling them to survive phagocytosis and reinfect patients.
My conviction is that tackling AMR and tolerance requires sophisticated approaches, where we need to find complementary pathways between immune response and antibiotic activity. Recent advances in super-resolution imaging will allow me to scrutinise molecular mechanisms in both host and pathogen that directly influence the outcome of phagocytosis. I propose to i), develop a super-resolution model of phagocytosis, using major AMR pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and host Drosophila melanogaster, to provide ground-breaking insights into the mechanisms of infection; ii), investigate how bacteria coordinate the cell cycle during infection, to identify vulnerabilities and test strategies to kill the internalised pathogens and iii), explore the roles of the host centrosome during phagocytosis, to determine how this organelle regulates the cytoskeleton and assess its potential as a target for immunomodulation.
I will harness cutting-edge imaging technology to significantly advance the field of host-pathogen interactions. My main objective is to identify molecular targets and pathways that potentiate phagocytosis of bacteria and use that knowledge to develop synergistic therapies, which I hope can help reduce the global burden of AMR.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs antibiotics
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug resistance antibiotic resistance
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom
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