The role of bacterial surface proteins in meningococcal pathogeneis

Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus) is usually a harmless commensal bacterium which colonises the human nasopharynx. For reasons that are poorly understood the organism occasionally invades the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and invades the bloodstream, from where it can cause systemic infection; it is also capable of breaching the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is normally impenetrable to most bacterial pathogens, where it can cause meningitis. We are currently investigating the role of a number of bacterial surface proteins which bind to receptors in human cells. We have shown that one such protein, the non-integrin laminin receptor, is targeted by the meningococcus as well as other bacteria capable of breaching the BBB and causing meningitis. The interactions of bacterial proteins with host cell receptors are believed to play important roles in disease. The student would work as part of a team investigating various aspects of this host-pathogen interaction.