Research Interests

Gut infections constitute a leading cause of morbidity worldwide. Pathogenic enterobacteria, e.g. Salmonella, Escherichia, and Shigella species, account for more than half a billion disease cases each year. These bacteria can bind to and/or invade the epithelium of the intestinal mucosa, thereby eliciting gut inflammation. Antibiotic treatment has proven inefficient at clearing gut bacterial infections and may in some cases even increase bacterial shedding from an infected individual. Moreover, the heavy use of antibiotics in healthcare and agriculture has led to fast spread of resistance mechanisms among clinical isolates. Hence, there are both curiosity-driven and societal incentives to better understand the mechanisms driving gut bacterial disease.

Bacterium – host cell interplay has traditionally been studied in simplified cell culture settings. Such experiments have uncovered a wealth of potential biochemical interactions between microbe and host cell. However, to understand the underpinnings of a “real” gut infection, additional approaches are needed that more faithfully recapitulate the properties of the intact gut mucosa. The Sellin lab employs state-of-the-art organoid culture, combined with bacterial genetics and high-resolution live imaging, to study the mechanisms driving gut bacterial disease. We focus on clinically relevant enterobacteria, particularly Salmonella and Shigella species. The ambition is that our work will uncover the physiologically relevant mechanisms used by these pathogens to invade the intestinal mucosa and trigger gut inflammation.

Group members

Maria Letizia Di Martino – Researcher
Jens Eriksson – Researcher
Pilar Samperio Ventayol – Researcher
Jorik van Rijn – Post-doctoral fellow
Stefan Fattinger – PhD student
Viktor Ek – PhD student
Petra Geiser – PhD student
Christopher von Beek – PhD student
Eva Skovajsova – Research assistant
Alexandra Florbrant – Research assistant

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Ok!Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.