Meijer Lab

We study mechanisms of host defense against intracellular pathogens responsible for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid fever. The causative agents of these diseases, Mycobacteria and Salmonella, parasitize one on the major cell types of the innate immune system, the macrophage. We developed zebrafish models for immunodeficiency and have made extensive use of RNA sequencing to increase insight into the host immune response genes that are activated at specific stages of infection. Currently, our main research lines focus on the connection between pathogen recognition and autophagic host defense, and on the chemokine signaling axes that determine macrophage migration and functional properties.