Würzburg Life Science Seminar: Christoph Dehio

Prof Christoph Dehio - “Physiological in vitro models for studying infection and treatment of uropathogenic bacteria”

Prof. Dehio’s work investigates chronic bacterial infections at the molecular and cellular level. His research focuses on bacterial effector proteins injected into the host cells by type IV secretion systems. These effector proteins alter targeted signaling pathways and the physiology of the host cells, which facilitate bacterial survive in the host. The aim of his work is to identify the cellular interaction partners of bacterial effector proteins as well as to characterize all the other host cell proteins relevant to the development of infection and to test their suitability as starting points for designing new antimicrobial agents to combat chronic bacterial infections.

Prof. Dehio’s group is studying the closely related pathogens Bartonella and Brucella in particular, which cause chronic bacterial infections of varying severity in humans and animals. Their type IV secretion systems contribute decisively to establishing persistent infection and are therefore particularly suitable for his research group’s experiments in cell cultures and animal models.