Imaging Gut Immune Cells and Microbes to Understand Health and Disease

The microbiome is rapidly becoming a focal point of tissue biology and disease research. However, most work is correlative because of how difficult it is to understand the specific interactions between cells and microbes deep within our body. This project uses a creative combination of tools that will introduce human microbes into the gut of flies, followed by high-resolution microscopy to record the interactions in these living organisms. This research will begin to clarify how the microbiome physically interacts in time and space and how it changes the behavior of cells in homeostasis and disease.