Charlotte Nicod joins the group as PhD student

The human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of tuberculosis and claims 1.5 million lives annually, with more than 2 billion people worldwide harboring latent infections. Mtb is an ancient intracellular pathogen that has co-evolved with its human host and, as such, we expect a deep level of integration and interaction with host systems in order to manipulate the cellular defenses and avoid destruction. Cellular functions are rarely attributable to a single molecule, but rather are carried out by sets of molecules organized into functional modules. This is especially true in the case of proteins associating to form multi-subunit protein complexes, the most important functional modules of the cell. Identifying which host proteins and protein complexes come into physical contact with bacterial proteins is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of how Mtb rewires the host’s cellular machinery during the course of infection. The primary of aim of Charlotte in this project will be to characterize this host-pathogen protein-protein interaction (PPI) space.