BEHNSEN LAB

Welcome!

Our bodies are made out of trillions of cells – and harbor the same number of microbes. These microbes have numerous functions, from providing us with nutrients and shaping our immune system to preventing pathogens from colonizing.

We study bacteria and fungi that live in the gut and their role during infection with the human pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. This bacterium infects 1.5 million people each year in the USA alone. Infection results in self-limiting inflammatory diarrhea in healthy people, but can lead to bacteremia and death in people with a compromised immune system.