Our research aims to uncover how bacterial and viral pathogens use sophisticated molecular machines to infect, manipulate, and interact with host cells. By revealing these machines in their native cellular environment, we seek to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive infection and translate these insights into new strategies for therapeutic intervention.

We combine structural biology, cell biology, microbiology, and computational approaches to study host–pathogen interactions across scales, from individual molecular machines to infected cells and microbial communities.

We use electron cryo-tomography (cryo-ET) and complementary methods to visualise cells and pathogens in three dimensions, in their near-native, hydrated state, at molecular resolution. This powerful approach enables us to capture infection as it happens and uncover how pathogens attach to, invade and remodel their host cells, as well as how host cells respond and adapt to infection.

We integrate cryo-ET with subtomogram averaging (STA), cryo-correlative light and electron microscopy (cryo-CLEM), cryo-focused ion beam milling (cryo-FIB), cryo-lift-out, and advanced computational and AI approaches. Together, these technologies allow us to resolve molecular machines directly within cells and determine how their structures change during infection.

We use these structural insights to move beyond understanding mechanism towards therapeutic discovery and design. By identifying molecular interfaces, functional states, and vulnerabilities in pathogen machinery, we aim to uncover new targets for antimicrobial and antiviral therapeutics, guide the design and optimisation of inhibitors and biologics, and understand how therapeutic interventions alter infection at the molecular and cellular levels.

Our ultimate goal is to connect structure to mechanism to therapy, revealing how pathogens cause disease and using this knowledge to design better strategies to prevent and treat infection.