The Agaisse Lab is associated with the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology (MIC). Our laboratory studies the bacterial pathogen Shigella flexneri, which causes approximately 270 million cases of bacillary dysentery (blood in stool) worldwide every year, resulting in more than 200,000 deaths. Our objective is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms supporting the disease in order to rationally design therapeutic interventions. We utilize a multi-disciplinary approach integrating molecular and cellular microbiology, high-throughput imaging, live confocal microscopy, bacterial and host cell genomics, bioinformatics and unique animal models of pathogenesis.